Dependency Personality Disorder: what is it?

Often times, mental disorders have nothing to do with hallucinations or the inability to perceive certain things or doing certain actions, but are expressed through our social relationships and the way in which they we live.

This is the case of Dependence Personality Disorder, also known as Dependent Personality Disorder. If we had to explain in a single sentence what it consists of, the explanation would be the following: habit of transforming our social relationships into straps that bind us and totally limit our Liberty. It is based on the fear of being abandoned by others.

Next we will see what are the characteristics, symptoms, causes and treatments associated with this disorder.

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What is Dependent Personality Disorder?

This is a mental disorder characterized by pathological need to maintain close personal relationships that provide protection and care to those who suffer it. In practice, this translates into adopting habits and attitudes related to submission and extreme dependence.

It is a personality disorder that, according to the diagnostic criteria of the DSM IV manual, belongs to group C, anxious or fearful disorders. This is a category it shares with Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder and Avoidant Personality Disorder.

Regarding its epidemiology, it is believed that this disorder affects approximately 0.5% of the population and that it is more frequent in women than in men.

Your symptoms

The main symptoms of Dependency Personality Disorder are the following.

Fear to loneliness

People with this disorder they fear being defenseless and in a vulnerable situation where they need help and cannot get it. This causes them to take desperate efforts to anticipate isolation, even if they do so. risks breaking with certain social conventions (which would further distance them from their objective).

Low self-esteem

Constant dependence on others makes that the self-esteem of these people is very damaged. This makes them seek to "complete" thanks to the presence of other people, since they feel that they cannot face life alone.

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Extreme indecision

People with Dependency Personality Disorder adopt an extremely passive attitude and they avoid having to make decisions, even if they are banal and of little importance. They always try to make the others decide.

Pessimism about your own abilities

These individuals tend to believing that they are unable to perform the most basic actions and that they will fail in any project they propose; that is why they need to be in contact with someone by whose side it is possible to survive.

Constant search for relationships

How I know needs uninterrupted protectionThese people are always looking for new relationships when old ones break down. The time that passes without someone's protection is seen as a danger, something that can mean receiving damage or reaching situations in which one's integrity is compromised.

Very low assertiveness

To people with this personality disorder it is very difficult for them to disagree with certain ideas, norms or opinions.

Constant need for the protection of others

Always wanted the presence of someone you can count on as a protective agent.

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Causes

It is estimated to be a disorder with high heritability (about 80% of the variance). However, it is not well known which part of this heritability is due to genetics and which has to do with the environments shared with fathers and mothers.

In any case, the person who detects the cases of Dependency Personality Disorder must be a mental health professional, and the diagnosis must be entirely her responsibility.

Subtypes of Dependency Personality Disorder

A classification with different subtypes of Dependency Personality Disorder has been proposed, to take into account the symptoms in a more detailed way. They are as follows.

Disinterested

People who "abandon themselves" entirely to the other person and forget their interests beyond the need for protection and guidance. Has masochistic features.

Ineffective

It is characterized by a fear of facing any type of problem and by extreme passivity.

Accommodating

A clearly anxious profile that structures his life around submission to another person. He is docile, accommodating and dedicated.

Immature

With characteristics linked to innocence and childishness, it fundamentally stands out for its credulity and incompetence when it comes to performing simple tasks for the adult standard.

Restless

A profile that expresses mistrust and constant fear, avoids any type of problem and avoids relationships with people who are not "the protective figure."

Treatments

Dependency Personality Disorder is based on very mental and behavioral habits. persistent and that remain present all the time, and it is very difficult to make their symptoms subside.

In this sense, cognitive behavioral therapy can be effective to improve self-esteem and to combat the symptoms of depression, a disorder that is frequently associated with this. In addition, through this form of psychotherapy, you train in social skills and routines to combat anxiety and fear.

On the other hand, the use of psychotropic drugs It is usually oriented to intervene on the symptoms derived from anxiety and depression, although always with a medical prescription and with exhaustive monitoring.

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