Objective: To examine whether the love letters of erotomania, have potential to assist in the clinical process of assessment. Method: A series of illustrative love letters from case examples were selected. The characteristics of the conditional variants were embedded into an adaptation of the technique of forensic psycholinguistic analysis, with a focus on discernible psychopathology, and the likely meaning for the individual. Conclusion: In all cases, analysis of the erotomanic love letter showed clear potential to be a significant augmenter in the process of clinical assessment. They should, therefore, be retained, reproduced and valued, rather than overlooked or discarded. This paper outlines a suggested approach to make the most of this valuable data source, including a clinical template which may be of assistance to other clinicians. This paper also serves as a general reminder of the ongoing need to recognise verbatim as of high clinical currency in forensic psychiatry.
