The objective of this research was to describe the causes associated with emotional dependence in European and Latin American women according to the documentary review of the last 5 years. Therefore, the theory of (Castello 2005) was taken into account, which defines emotional dependence as a repetitive pattern that creates affective demands in the individual. The focus of this research is qualitative, using various databases such as Scielo, Redalyc, Scopus, among others. Additionally, the inclusion and exclusion criteria were taken into account, allowing the collection of 30 articles, where it was possible to identify different causes of emotional dependence in women, one of them being irrational beliefs, lack of autonomy, affective lack in childhood. , lack of social skills, economic factors, among others. Concluding that the most frequent variables are low self-esteem, fear of abandonment, loneliness and normalization or acceptance of abuse.