Othello Syndrome: when jealousy turns into a psychological plot twist

WE'VE all heard the saying, “Jealousy makes you nasty,” but it can make you something far worse than that — you could be suffering from Othello syndrome (OS), a rare medical condition where you suspect your partner is cheating on you when there is no basis for it.

- TERRY VAN DER WALT

One such sufferer is Debbi Wood, a woman dubbed “the UK’s most jealous wife” for forcing her husband to take lie detector tests to make sure he wasn't cheating on her.

Wood, 43, from Leicestershire, appeared on Channel 5's 87 Stone: Fat Chance Of Work, where she spoke about the affliction where she would check her husband Steven's emails, phone, bank statements and even banned him from watching television in case he was allured by a woman on the screen.

Wood reportedly also struggled with bipolar and body dysmorphic disorders, but it was the disorder that gets its name from William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Othello, that caused all the trouble.

In the play, Othello, a respected military commander, is tricked by other characters into believing that his wife Desdemona is cheating on him, even though she is not. In the end, Othello tragically kills his wife and then kills himself.