在中世紀時，愛情被視為是生理與心理雙方面的問題。重要的理論依據源自古典時期：亞里斯多德的身心理論、希波克拉提斯的體液說，以及葛倫的臨床觀察。中世紀的阿拉伯醫生將這些觀念整合並進一步發展，於十一世紀時傳回到歐洲：愛情症乃是身體與靈魂兩方面的疾病，從病因、症候到療法皆然。想像力為串連身心的橋樑，也是醫學與文學中愛情論述的重要元素。此身心二元理論在文藝復興時產生改變。以費奇諾為首的新柏拉圖學派否定愛情的肉體層面，認為心靈圖像比真人更美，精神結合即足夠。愛情的去肉身對早期現代的醫界產生影響：許多十六、十七世紀的醫學論著將性與愛分家，著重的是想像而非肉體。費洪的長篇論文雖彰顯了他的博學專業，卻也透露了醫生對於治療心病的無力，至此醫界已向哲學、文學、宗教徹底繳械了。

Throughout the Middle Ages, love was understood to involve both the body and the soul. Aristotle’s faculty psychology, Hippocrates’ humor theory, and Galen’s clinical observations together established the foundation for a medical discussion of love. Their theories were developed and synthesized by Eastern medieval doctors, and then reintroduced to Europe in the eleventh century. Eros was a disease both mental and somatic, a perspective reflected in its etiology, symptoms, and treatments. Bridging body and mind, imagination became prominent in medieval medical and literary discourses on love. Led by Ficino, Renaissance Neoplatonists changed this dualistic outlook by denying the physical aspect of love. According to them, phantasms are more beautiful than the beloved’s person, and purely spiritual union suffices. Their disembodiment of love eventually permeated early modern medicine. Many sixteenth- and seventeenth-century doctors subscribed to the theory by separating love from sex and prioritizing the imaginative over the corporeal. Ferrand’s comprehensive treatise illustrates his profound knowledge in the subject, but also betrays the physicians’ impotence in curing this disease of the mind, thus ironically surrendering their territory to philosophy, poetry, and religion.