EMOTIONAL DEPENDENCY AND THE IMPACTS ON THE LIVES OF PEOPLE: AN INTEGRATIVE LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction: emotional dependency is a pattern of behavior where a person develops a strong need to be emotionally attached to another person, constantly seeking the approval, validation, and emotional security on the part of that person. This can lead to difculty in terms of making independent decisions, low self-esteem and intense fear of abandonment. Objective: to conduct a systematic literature review on emotional dependency and its impacts on the lives of people. Methodology: this is a systematic literature review, based on descriptive research, whose articles were selected in May 2023 in the LILACS, APA PsycNet and PubMed databases, from the combination of the descriptors “Psychological dependency”; “Emotional dependency”; “Interpersonal dependency”; and “Affective dependency”. As for the selection of works, those published in English, Spanish and Portuguese were determined. Acritical analysis was performed, and the articles related to the theme and made available in full were ltered. Accordingly, 16 articles were selected for this study. Results and Discussion: it is perceived that there is a scarcity of articles on emotional dependency and that the studies found present divergences in the used terminology. Emotional dependency can be divided into passive or active, being associated with different controlling proles, such as natural victim, intentional victim, avenger and narcissist. Conclusion: emotional dependency occurs when a person is dependent on the state or actions of another person, resulting in an emotional prison that limits freedom and authenticity, leading to a lack of permission to move on.