Between passionate love and emotional dependence, the border is not always easy to recognize. Being too exclusive, intrusive or jealous are signs that can testify from one addiction to another.
When the relationship with your partner becomes the most important thing, to the detriment of all other activities of daily life, be it social or professional life, there may be emotional dependence and it is a real disorder. personality.
This disorder recognized by the DSM, the diagnostic manual for psychiatrists, is as common in men as in women. It usually occurs in adolescence, sometimes in a difficult emotional context, such as the divorce of parents, or a romantic breakup.
Knowing how to recognize the signs
It’s not always easy to tell the difference between a simple fear of loneliness, or separation, and true emotional dependence. However, some signs do not deceive:
• The inability to make any decision without the other;
• Intense fear of abandonment and loneliness with a feeling of devastation when the relationship ends;
• A lack of self-confidence and the conviction that you cannot cope on your own;
• Putting your partner’s needs ahead of your own.
How to treat dependent personality disorder?
When all of these signs are there and there is suffering, professional help is needed. Psychotherapy focuses on negative thoughts and low self-esteem. The therapist helps the dependent person to gradually make decisions for himself in order to detach himself from the other.
Even if it is generally a permanent disorder, managing your stress and your daily life with the help of a psychologist allows you to react differently within the relationship. Learning to exist on your own and to overcome your fears takes time but allows you to preserve a healthy and harmonious bond for the couple.
.
