Dependent Personality Disorder

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from Psychology Today

​Dependent personality disorder is a psychiatric condition marked by an over-reliance on other people to meet one’s emotional and physical needs.

(DPD) is one of the most frequently diagnosed personality disorders. It occurs in men and women, becoming apparent in young adulthood or later as important adult relationships form.

Personality traits are enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about one's environment and oneself that are exhibited in a wide range of social and personal contexts. Only when personality traits are inflexible, maladaptive, and cause significant functional impairment or subjective distress are they considered personality disorders.
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The essential feature of a personality disorder is a continuing pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates noticeably from the expectations of the individual's culture and is manifested in at least two of the following areas: cognition/thinking, affectivity/emotional expression, interpersonal functioning, or impulse control.
From WebMD.com

What Are the Symptoms of DPD?

​People with DPD become emotionally dependent on other people and spend great effort trying to please others. People with DPD tend to display needy, passive, and clinging behavior, and have a fear of separation. Other common characteristics of this personality disorder include:

​- Inability to make decisions, even everyday decisions like what to wear, without the advice and reassurance of others

• Avoidance of adult responsibilities by acting passive and helpless; dependence on a spouse or friend to make decisions like where to work and live
• Intense fear of abandonment and a sense of devastation or helplessness when relationships end; a person with DPD often moves right into another relationship when one ends.
• Over-sensitivity to criticism
• Pessimism and lack of self-confidence, including a belief that they are unable to care for themselves
• Avoidance of disagreeing with others for fear of losing support or approval
• Inability to start projects or tasks because of a lack of self-confidence
• Difficulty being alone
• Willingness to tolerate mistreatment and abuse from others
• Placing the needs of their caregivers above their own
• Tendency to be naive and to fantasize

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​From HEALTHY PLACE.com

The dependent personality's clingy, submissive behavior is designed to elicit caring behaviors from others, but in many cases, it actually pushes them away. Often, even if the caregiver is abusive, the dependent personality will remain in the relationship. When a primary relationship does end, an individual with a dependent personality immediately and urgently seeks a replacement. This can make dependent personality disorder treatment very challenging._

​The dependency needs of individuals with this disorder differ from those of children.

​Children need the caring and nurturing of others. They need help when making decisions beyond the scope of their age and experience and may exhibit mild to severe separation anxiety when left with people other than their parents. These are all normal and developmentally appropriate in children.

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Most kids gradually grow out of separation anxiety by adolescence and dependency on parental nurturing also diminishes during the teen years. Keep in mind, as with children, it's also normal for elderly and handicapped to have increased dependency and a need for others to assume responsibility over their lives.

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But some kids don't ever go through the normal developmental path to independence from parents and caregivers. For these individuals, dependency on others increases over time and becomes excessive to the point that it departs markedly from the social norm and has a profound negative impact on quality of life.

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​From Psychology Today

Treatments

​Psychotherapy is the preferred form of treatment for people with dependent personality disorder. Cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on patterns of thinking that are maladaptive, the beliefs that underlie such thinking, and resolving symptoms or traits that are characteristic of the disorder—such as the inability to make important life decisions or the inability to initiate relationships. Improvements are usually seen only with long-term therapy or treatment.

​Medication may be helpful to treat any other underlying conditions. Certain types of drugs, such as antidepressants, sedatives, and tranquilizers are often prescribed for patients with dependent personality disorder to treat co-occurring conditions.

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