This relationship fills one’s emotional voids as the only source of satisfaction, even if the individual no longer receives love from it. The person suffering from LA builds his or her existential project entirely around the couple’s relationship, which is seen as a drug that one cannot do without. The absence of reciprocity within a romantic relationship, relational distortion as a form of morbid, obsessive, and fusional love that is detrimental to a person’s well-being, and a compulsive need for closeness that results in dysfunctional relational patterns are present in some of the proposed definitions. Although there is not a strictly recognized framework for Affective Dependence (AD)-also termed love addiction (LA)-there have been suggestions for its definition. Some reflections that may help to distinguish a “healthy” addiction from a dysfunctional or markedly pathological one are considered alongside potential prevention perspectives.Īs difficult as it is to accept, even love, which is one of the most valued and appreciated human experiences, can lead to psychopathology. However, there is a lack of clinical trials that can verify the efficacy of the AD treatments reported so far in the literature. 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.

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.

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. Affective Dependence (AD) is a problematic model of the love relationship that is becoming increasingly prevalent and evident in the context of couple relationships.

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