with avoidant personality disorder have such a strong fear of humiliation and rejection that
they withdraw until they are certain they will be accepted. In  contrast, individuals with de-
pendent personality disorder have a pattern of  seeking and maintaining connections to im-
portant others, rather than avoiding  and withdrawing fr om relationships.
Many individuals display dependent personalit y traits. Only when these traits are in-
flexible, maladaptive, and persisting and caus e significant functional impairment or sub-
jective distress do they constitute  dependent personality disorder. 
Personality change due to another medical condition. Dependent personality disor-
der must be distinguished from personality change due to another medical condition, in
which the traits that emerge ar e attributable to the effects of another medical condition on
the central nervous system.
Substance use disorders. Dependent personality disorder must also be distinguished
from symptoms that may develop in a ssociation with persistent substance use.
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
Diagnostic Criteria 301.4 (F60.5)
A pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and in-
terpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency, beginning by
early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the
following:
1. Is preoccupied with details, rules, lists, order, organization, or schedules to the extent
that the major point of the activity is lost.
2. Shows perfectionism that interferes with task completion (e.g., is unable to complete a
project because his or her own over ly strict standards are not met).
3. Is excessively devoted to work and productivity to the exclusion of leisure activities and
friendships (not accounted for by obvious economic necessity).