Introduction
Individuals with asthenic (dependent) personality disorder lack vibrancy and initiative and passively allow others to bear responsibility for principal aspects of their lives. Individuals with passive-aggressive personality disorder communicate their hostility indirectly as procrastination, stubbornness, inefficiency, and forgetfulness.
What Is Personality Disorder?
A personality disorder is related to a person's behavioral alternation over a long time (usually since childhood and adolescence), then what is considered the norm in comparable situations (the behavior of most other people in this social circle). A rigid, maladjusted, and inflexible behavioral pattern is deemed a typical personality disorder despite known consequences of such behavior being impactfully negative thinking and harmful to the person. The habits or behavioral patterns are continuously repeated precisely. Therefore, they cannot learn from their mistakes to change their behavior accordingly, resulting in
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Feelings of incomprehension.
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Dissatisfaction.
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Self-deprecation.
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Misery.
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Degrade the quality of life.
What Are the Types of Personality Disorders?
Types of personality disorder:
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Emotionally unstable (borderline) personality disorder.
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Narcissistic (self-centered) personality disorder.
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Dependent (asthenic) personality disorder.
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Avoidant personality disorder.
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Histrionic (assertive) personality disorder.
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Passive-aggressive (negativistic) personality disorder.
What Is Dependent (Asthenic) Personality Disorder?
Dependent personality disorder (DPD) is a kind of anxious personality disorder related to a person’s way of thinking, behaving, and feeling. A sense of vulnerability, submissiveness, or incompetence in individuals with asthenic personalities. They often rely on individuals nearest to them for their emotional or physical needs and struggle to make superficial day-to-day decisions, like what to wear, without others’ consolation. Others may tag such individuals as needy or clingy. People with dependent (asthenic) personality disorder sense themselves as personally inadequate and flaunt this in their reluctance and need to be cared for with extreme fear of abandonment, which leads to giving up their self-determination. But with the help of other guidance, they can learn self-confidence and self-reliance. Dependent personality disorder usually begins during early childhood to middle age. Most women are more affected than men to have DPD, with a rough estimation of ten percent of adults having a personality disorder.
What Are the Symptoms of Asthenic Personality Disorder?
Distinct characteristics that may imply a dependent personality disorder are
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Submissive nature.
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Clinging behavior.
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Regarding completely helpless when alone and exaggerated fear of being alone.
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Strong adaptation to the needs of others.
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Depressed mood.
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Lack of initiative behavior.
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Intense fear of separation.
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Avoidance of personal responsibility.
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Oversensitivity to criticism.
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Pessimism and lack of self-confidence.
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Trouble making everyday decisions.
What Are the Causes of Asthenic Personality Disorder?
Mental health experts consider dependent (asthenic) personality disorder results from a combination of genetics, environment, development, and particular life experiences, which also includes the following:
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Abusive Relationships: People with a record of abusive relationships have a more heightened risk of a DPD diagnosis.
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Childhood Trauma: Children who have encountered child abuse, including verbal abuse or neglect, and life-threatening illness during childhood may develop DPD.
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Family History: A family history of DPD or other anxiety conditions.
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Cultural and Religious or Family Behaviors: Individuals may acquire dependent (asthenic) personality disorder due to cultural or religious rituals emphasizing dependence on authority. However, indolence or courtesy alone is not a manifestation of dependent (asthenic) personality disorder.
How to Know That One Has Asthenic Personality Disorder?
Look for the symptoms and consult with the healthcare professional who will perform a physical exam to understand any chance of another condition causing symptoms. Then, a mental healthcare worker makes the DPD diagnosis. Mental health experts will discuss the past mental health history. Questions may include how one feels, other mental health concerns, and substance use problems. In addition, the experts will analyze answers to factors enumerated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
For a diagnosis of DPD, expertise will examine five of the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. These factors include
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The all-consuming, unrealistic fear of being abandoned.
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Anxious or helpless feelings when alone.
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Inability to handle life responsibilities without pursuing help from others.
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Problems are stating an opinion out of fear of losing support or approval.
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Require support from others.
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Struggling to make day-to-day decisions without consolation from others.
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Lack of self-confidence provokes fear of starting new projects or things.
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The desire for a new relationship to deliver support and approval.
What Are the Treatment Options for Asthenic Personality Disorder?
The mental healthcare professional can better guide one for proper treatment plans based on causes. Expertise suggestions for psychotherapy (talk therapy) such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT):
CBT is a psychotherapy (talking therapy) that can help one handle crises by transforming how one thinks and behaves. It is established that thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and actions are interconnected and that negative thoughts and feelings can entrap one into a negative cycle. Therefore, cognitive-behavioral therapy strives to positively assist in dealing with overwhelming situations by splitting them into smaller parts.
Psychotherapy and CBT can take time to feel better. With psychotherapy and CBT, expertise guides the individual to improve self-confidence and work to become more active and self-reliant. Termination of therapy with an individual with this disorder is critical. While termination is always a mutual decision between the clinician and client, individuals with this disorder often do not understand how much therapy is enough. Therefore, the therapist may encourage the patient to end therapy. In the case of DPD, the cause is depression or anxiety. As a result, mental healthcare professionals might prescribe medication like anti-depressant drugs.
Is It Possible to Stop Dependent Personality Disorder?
DPD might not be something you can stop. However, treatment can assist those who are susceptible to the illness in learning how to avoid or deal with challenging circumstances. According to certain studies, healthy interactions may aid in preventing the child from later developing DPD. A child's positive relationships with even one parent, teacher, or friend can balance out the negative effects of others.
How Likely Is It That Someone With Dependent Personality Disorder Would Recover?
If one receives therapy from a mental health professional, someone with DPD can live an emotionally healthy life. Their viewpoint may change if they discover new coping mechanisms for challenging circumstances. People who do not receive treatment could be at risk for anxiety and despair. Without therapy, a person may overuse drugs or alcohol and experience difficulties like addiction. People are more likely to continue in dysfunctional or abusive relationships without treatment.
Conclusion
A dependent personality disorder is illustrated by a long-standing necessity for the person to be taken care of and apprehension of being dumped or separated from influential individuals in their life, which leads the person to engage in dependent and submissive behaviors designed to elicit caregiving behaviors in others. A mental health-care worker helps the individual to cope with dependency on other issues and improve self-qualities like self-confidence, self-reliance, self-esteem, etc.
