dependent personality disorder
Sign in to saveAlso known as asthenic personality, asthenic personality disorde, inadequate personality, inadequate personality disorder, passive personality, passive personality disorder, DPD
personality disorder that is characterized by a pervasive psychological dependence on other people
Key facts
- Specialty
- Psychiatry , clinical psychology
- Symptoms
- Avoidance of decision-making, fear of abandonment, passive and/or clingy behavior, low social boundaries, oversensitivity to criticism
- Complications
- Codependent or abusive relationships
- Risk factors
- Overprotective strict parenting or authoritarian parenting
- Differential diagnosis
- Avoidant , borderline , and histrionic personality disorders, effects of substance use and other medical conditions
- Treatment
- Psychotherapy
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
2,199 papers- Dependent Personality Disorder.2026
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder.2026
- Borderline Personality Disorder.2026
- Dependent personality disorder: a critical review.Clinical psychology review · 2013
- Antisocial Personality Disorder.2026
via PubMed
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Dependent personality disorder (DPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive dependence on other people and subsequent submissiveness and clinginess. This personality disorder is a long-term condition in which people depend on others to meet their emotional and physical needs. Individuals with DPD often struggle to make independent decisions and seek constant reassurance from others. This dependence can result in a tendency to prioritize the needs and opinions of others over their own.
In the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR; 2022), dependent personality disorder is classified as a cluster C ("anxious or fearful") personality disorder. There was a diagnostic category for DPD in the previous revision of the International classification of Diseases, ICD-10; but the ICD-11 no longer has distinct diagnoses for personality disorders.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “dependent personality disorder” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.