Dependent Personality Disorder is a type of personality disorder characterized by a constant dependence on other people – on their presence and contact. It is assigned to people with low self-esteem who avoid responsibility for their decisions. What are the causes of Dependent Personality Disorder?
Dependent Personality Disorder – Characteristics Dependent
Personality Disorder is characteristic of people who are afraid of responsibility, have low self-confidence, and are unable to make decisions on their own. These people are perceived as helpless, indecisive, submissive, and require constant presence of another person who will tell them how to live. Dependent Personality Disorder is characterized by inner tension and a willingness to connect with others to ensure that the decision of this person is correct. The result of these needs is placing important and less important everyday decisions in the hands of other people, the inability to make demands and ask for something from them.
Dependent Personality Disorder – Causes
Many factors influence the formation of a dependent personality, including biological and developmental factors, meaning that the childhood of such a person can also have an impact. Biological factors that influence dependent personality can be the character and temperament with which we are born, so it can stem from genes. Scientists believe that upbringing can have a huge impact on the formation of a dependent personality. Undesirable parenting methods and events weaken self-esteem. Parents who presented an excessively caring upbringing are usually responsible for a child’s dependent personality. The upbringing itself is not the only cause of dependent personality disorder. It is also conditioned by family behavior, relationships between relatives, and their behavior.
Dependent Personality Disorder – Symptoms
Dependent personality disorder is a disease classified in the official International Classification of Diseases, and if a person has at least three of the symptoms listed below, it is a type of dependent personality disorder. These symptoms include:
- Excessive submission to the wishes of others and the subordination of one’s own needs to others;
- Feeling incapable of making decisions for oneself;
- Helplessness in lonely situations;
- Lack of faith in one’s own abilities and skills;
- Confirmation of decisions made on a daily basis;
- Fear of a relationship or relationship breakdown;
- Feeling of powerlessness;
- Forced search for new acquaintances out of fear of being alone.
The biggest problem for an independent person is to shift responsibility for their life onto others. Such people who are alone feel lost and powerless and cannot make any decisions for themselves – not even the simplest ones.