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Review
. 2023 Oct 26;12(21):6769.
doi: 10.3390/jcm12216769.

"I Can't Do without You": Treatment Perspectives for Affective Dependence: A Scoping Review

Zeynep Özal  1 , Giacomo Mancini  1 , Greta De Fino  2 , Federica Ambrosini  1 , Roberta Biolcati  1 , Roberto Truzoli  2
Affiliations
Review

"I Can't Do without You": Treatment Perspectives for Affective Dependence: A Scoping Review

Zeynep Özal et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Affective Dependence (AD) is a problematic model of the love relationship that is becoming increasingly prevalent and evident in the context of couple relationships. Similarly, the phenomenon is being observed with growing frequency in daily clinical practice, making it increasingly necessary to identify treatment guidelines that can help clinicians in dealing with AD, while waiting for the literature to reach a consensus on its definition and nosographic profile. The main objective of this work is to explore the existing evidence of effectiveness regarding feasible treatments for Affective Dependence through a scoping review of the international literature carried out using the main scientific databases and following the PRISMA-ScR (PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines. Seven studies were included in this review, and the results show that several pharmaceuticals, as well as different types of individual and group therapies, are proposed as treatment plans for AD. However, there is a lack of clinical trials that can verify the efficacy of the AD treatments reported so far in the literature. Some reflections that may help to distinguish a "healthy" addiction from a dysfunctional or markedly pathological one are considered alongside potential prevention perspectives.

Keywords: affective dependence; clinical interventions; emotional dependence; love addiction; pathological love; relationship addiction; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram of the study selection process.
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This research received no external funding.

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