Emotional Dependence, Self-Deception and Romantic Love Myths: Pathological Denial in Couple Relationships

Abstract

Background: Emotional dependence is a disorder that often goes unnoticed due to the social belief that it is something common due to its relationship with the idealize vision of love, emotions and a series of myths. On this matter, this research aims to analyze the relationship between emotional dependence, self-deception and perception of romantic love myths. Method: 262 people (113 men and 149 women) aged between 18 and 59 years (M = 31.9, SD = 12.37) and in couple relationship participated in this study, responded to measures of dependency, pathological self-deception (manipulation and mystification) and myths about idealized and abusive love. Results: It has been found that there is a relationship between the variables emotional dependence, self-deception and perception of myths of romantic love, In addition, there were found differences in emotional dependence based on the age, but no by gender. Conclusions: Evidence of the relationship between the analyzed variables was provided, since emotional dependence is linked to an archetypal vision of love and occurs with self-deception mechanisms.