Dependent Personality Disorder

Dependent personality disorder is a chronic condition in which a person has over-reliance on others to meet emotional and physical needs. Individuals with dependent personality disorder have great difficulty in making everyday decisions without an advice and reassurance from others. These persons tend to be passive and allow other person to take the initiative and responsibility for most major areas of their lives.

The person passively depends on others to assume responsibility and make decisions for major areas of ones life due to lack of self-confidence or lack of ability to function independently. The person becomes dependent on others by making their own needs secondary to the needs of others.

The person suffering has an exaggerated sensitivity to rejection, resentfulness, distrust, as well as the inclination to distort experienced events. It is one of the most common personality disorders in human beings, and is equally in between men and women.

Symptoms:

1. Allowing others to make most of their important decisions of life
2. Unable to express disconsent because of fear of loss of support.
3. Difficulty in making daily decisions without help and reassurance from others.
4. Avoids occupational activities which require significant interpersonal contact.
5. Require others to take responsibility for most major decisions of his/ her life.
6. Unable to express their reasonable needs to the people one depends on.
7. Feel helpless when alone, because of fears of inability to take care for oneself.
8. Unable to initiate things on his own without support.
9. when a close relationship ends urgently requires another relationship as a source of care and support.
10. Become excessive agreeable to the person on whoom one depends.
11. Fear of being rejected or criticised without support of other.

Causes:

• Genetic factors have been hypothesized to some disorders.

• Because of previous traumatic experiences, weak social skills, and parental overprotection.

• Emotional abuse or physical abuse.

Treatment:

Medications

Certain types of drugs such as antidepressants, tranquilizer are often prescribed for patients suffering with dependent personality disorder to reduce their stress level.

Psychotherapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on patterns of thinking that are maladaptive, the beliefs that underlie such thinking and resolving symptoms that are characteristic of the disorder, such as the inability to make decisions or the inability to initiate projects.