676 Personality Disorders
and submissive behaviors are designed to elicit caregiving and arise from a self-perception
of being unable to function adequately without the help of others.
Individuals with dependent personality disorder have grea t difficulty making every-
day decisions (e.g., what color shirt to wear to work or whether to carry an umbrella) without
an excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others (Criterion 1). These individu-
als tend to be passive and to allow other people  (often a single other person) to take the ini-
tiative and assume responsibility for most majo r areas of their lives (Criterion 2). Adults
with this disorder typically depend on a pa rent or spouse to decide where they should
live, what kind of job they should have, and which neighbors to befriend. Adolescents
with this disorder may allow their parent(s) to  decide what they should wear, with whom
they should associate, how they should spen d their free time, and what school or college
they should attend. This need for others to  assume responsibility goes beyond age-appro-
priate and situation-appropriate requests fo r assistance from others (e.g., the specific
needs of children, elderly persons, and hand icapped persons). Dependent personality dis-
order may occur in an individual who has a serious medical conditio n or disability, but in
such cases the difficulty in taking responsib ility must go beyond what would normally be
associated with that condition or disability.
Because they fear losing support or approval, individuals with dependent personality
disorder often have difficulty expressing d isagreement with other individuals, especially
those on whom they are dependent (Criterion 3) . These individuals feel so unable to func-
tion alone that they will agree with things that they feel are wrong rather than risk losing