Abstract
Love has an enormous effect on mental health. One does not need an actual romantic relationship to be in love. Indeed, romantic love can be built upon without frequent or real-life encounters, such as with a stranger from a matching website. With the advancement of the Internet and the influence of coronavirus disease, it is believed that these distant romantic relationships and related romance scams are burgeoning. Often, the victims of scams keep emotionally attached to the scammer even after the lie is revealed, which is hypothesized to be attributed to the aberrantly exaggerated romantic imagery of the victims. It is observed that many victims suffer from symptoms similar to a post-traumatic stress disorder, and some even consider suicide. However, there is scant literature on this topic. In this article, it is further postulated that the aberrant romantic imagery might be associated with impulsive acts such as suicide once the ideal but fake romantic relationship is dissolved. Thereafter, it is further speculated that manipulation of the visual network, possibly by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), might be a promising treatment.
Highlights
Reviewed by: Gabriele Nibbio, University of Brescia, Italy Fabiana Ruggiero, IRCCS Ca’ Granda Foundation Maggiore Policlinico Hospital, Italy
It is further postulated that the aberrant romantic imagery might be associated with impulsive acts such as suicide once the ideal but fake romantic relationship is dissolved
Thereafter, it is further speculated that manipulation of the visual network, possibly by transcranial direct current stimulation, might be a promising treatment
Summary
Romance scams are virtual relationships generally constructed through websites for deceiving victims to extort money from them [1]. Many victims exhibit symptoms similar to those of post-traumatic stress disorder long after the event, with some even contemplating suicide [3]. This issue has seldom been addressed in the current literature. Romance Scams and Romantic Imagery affection toward the scammer, and she could not visualize that someone other than the person in the profile was writing messages to her [3]. She described her feelings: “I’d had this guy’s picture in my house for a year. As described it is speculated that the rationale supporting this entanglement of fake and reality is aberrantly exaggerated romantic imagery
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