What Is Dependent Personality Disorder?

People with borderline personality disorder show instability in their relationships, self-image, and mood and lack of control over impulses (Stanley & Siever, 2010). They tend to be uncertain of their values, goals, loyalties, careers, choices of friends, and sometimes even their sexual orientations (Roepke et al., 2010). Instability in self-image or identity may leave them with feelings of emptiness and boredom. Many cannot tolerate being alone and make desperate attempts to avoid feelings of abandonment. They may be clinging and demanding in social relationships, but clinging often pushes away the people on whom they depend. They alternate between extremes of adulation in their relationships (when their needs are met) and loathing (when they feel scorned). They tend to view other people as all good or all bad, shifting abruptly from one extreme to the other. As a result, they may flit from partner to partner in brief and stormy relationships. People they had idealized are treated with contempt when they fell the other person has failed them.

The symptoms that one may experience if they had Dependent Personality Disorder are more than emotional that anything else. One would typically lean on others for emotional support, avoiding personal related responsibility jobs, and even having separation issues (my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles). Also by the patient having confidence in their decisions they would make, this is why they lean on others to somewhat guide them in the right direction. Or may even just need to motivation and assurance that they are doing a great job on a day to day

Dependent Personality Disorder is characterized by “a pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of that leads to submissive and clinging behavior” (APA, 2013, p. 675). This description aptly defines the personality of Buster Bluth from the television show Arrested Development. Buster has difficulty making everyday decisions, has issues with expressing disagreement, seeks out another close relationship once one goes awry, goes to excessive lengths to obtain nurture, has anxiety when faced with difficult decisions, and his social relationships are limited. All these traits are symptoms of Dependent Personality Disorder (APA, 2013, p. 675). Based on this, Buster Bluth should be diagnosed with Dependent Personality Disorder.

A personality disorder is an inflexible and is usually an unhealthy way of thinking or behaving (Carey). Dependent personality disorder is a mental illness which can cause individuals to feel as if they are incapable of living or doing something independently (Faith). Dependent personality disorder is a cluster c personality disorder (Faith). Cluster c personality disorders include all of the anxious or fearful types of disorders (Faith).

There is considerable literature about Codependence and its symptoms. In 1986, Timmon Cermak proposed that Codependence can be found in the DSM-III criteria for a "mixed personality disorder" according to

Those with extreme mental independence are resilient and often are powerful and in control of their life. However, constantly mentally independent individuals are discriminated by those who do not understand the lack of dependence on other people for their own happiness. Being mentally dependent on other people causes one to lose their self identity, causing depression and unhappiness with oneself, as well

According to The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), BPD is an identity issue that consists of dysfunctional behaviors set apart by a progressing example of shifting states of mind, mental self view, and conduct, consequently, these indications regularly result in imprudent activities and issues in their relationships; extreme scenes of outrage, discouragement, and tension that might last a few hours to days (para. 1). A person that suffers with this disorder often feels that they are not good enough to live up to the standards others have for them. The main component of this type of mental health disorder is that the person prevalent pattern of unpredictability in their interpersonal relationships, feelings, and self-image, furthermore, they are typically very impulsive in their

There is growing consensus that the core features of BPD lie in affect dysregulation, impulsivity, unstable relationships, and self-harm (Bateman, Ryle, Fonagy, & Kerr, 2007; Choi-Kain & Gunderson, 2008; Eizirik & Fonagy, 2009; Fonagy & Luyten, 2009). These features are not isolated characteristics and could be understood and integrated under the mentalizing theory framework (Fonagy & Target, 2000). For example, affect dysregulation and impulsivity could be explained by the low threshold for the activation of the attachment system and the deactivation of mentalizing (Fonagy & Luyten, 2009). When operating in the pre-reflective psychic equivalence mode, BPD patients have difficulty differentiating mental states of self and others.

Investigators conducted a series of experiments to investigate the relationship between insecure attachment styles, and depression. Several factors are correlated with depression and dependency which states that “thoughts, emotions, and behavioral characteristics related to the need to communicate with and depend on others (Hirschfeld et al., 1977). The role attachment style and depression are investigated and it is hypothesized that insecure attachments strongly correlate with depression rather than securely attached individuals which do not.

Another sign that relates to borderline personality disorder is loneliness. People with BPD fear of abandonment and being alone. Loneliness causes severe stress on them and can affect their health. It was stated that “persistent loneliness is one of the key experiences reported by individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD)” (Liebke, 2017). In the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Disorder III (1980), the intolerance of aloneness is so characteristic for BPD patients that it was even one of the diagnostic criteria for BPD when it first came up as independent

A serial killer is defined as a person who commits three or more murders in at least three separate events. These events must include a “cooling off period” between the kills. Serial killers don’t go straight to killing people. Like any other major criminals, less serious crimes are committed before actually going out and committing more severe crimes. Usually, serial killers have a cycle in which they commit their killings, usually during times of high stress. The act of killing appears to give the killer a temporary relief of the pressure. Crime is found when a criminal personality type comes in contact with the necessary environmental stimuli that causes it to come to the surface of some sort of deviant behavior. Many factors lead a person

“Dissociative identity disorder (DID), which was formerly known as multiple personality disorder (MPD), is a disorder in which an individual has the presence of two or more identities or personality states” (Pais 2009, pg.1). Throughout this paper the reader will be provided with information regarding Dissociative Identity Disorder; a disorder that is truly as unique, and complicated as the human mind. Reading this paper will help the audience grasp a better understanding of how and why such a complicated disorder can occur, by focusing on topics such as; prevalence, controversial issues, symptoms, side-effects and treatment options.

My topic of choice for this research paper is Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID. This appellation is rather new; therefore, most are more familiar with the disorder's older, less technical name: Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD. When first presented with the task of selecting a topic on which to center this paper, I immediately dismissed Dissociative Identity Disorder (which for the sake of brevity will be referred to as DID for the remainder of this paper) as a viable topic due to the sheer scope of the disorder. However after an exhaustive examination of other prospective topics, I found myself back at my original choice. There are several reasons why I chose DID. The foremost of which is the widespread fascination of this

treatment techniques (such as believed to be the case with Sybil Dorsett and being so,

Dissociative identity disorder (DID), also known as multiple personality disorder (MPD), is still known today as one of the most controversial psychiatric diagnoses (Priya & Siva, 2013). It indicates the existence of two or more identities or different personalities that repeatedly assumes control over the behavior of the person affected. In the majority of cases, dissociative identity disorder appears along with other symptoms, in which many times has been misdiagnosed (Ringrose, 2011). Repetitive childhood abuses are considered as the main cause of dissociative identity disorder (Fraser, 2014). The division of two or more identities can be understood as