ArticleCureus2025
When Fantasy Feels Too Real: The Psychological Toll of Deep Media Attachment.
Article in Cureus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Parasocial relationships (PSRs) are emotional relationships developed with a media figure. These relationships may take the form of friendship, romantic attachments, or the embodiment of the persona. This case study highlights the psychological impact of parasocial attachments, focusing on a 16-year-old female who developed a strong parasocial connection with a character from a popular animated series. The patient deeply resonated with the show and its main character, as it mirrored her own personal struggles of sexual identity, body image issues, and isolation. Unlike other viewers who likely processed the character's death as a fictional event, the patient's reaction was significantly more intense, triggering suicidal ideation. Following an inpatient hospitalization with medication adjustments and therapeutic interventions, the patient was discharged with improved mood. Importantly, clinicians should be mindful of the therapeutic potential of media engagement for building rapport, while also recognizing the potential negative psychological influences.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.