Dependency in the personality disorders: intensity, insight, expression, and defense.

Although dependency-related dynamics play a role in many forms of personality pathology, a review of the literature in this area reveals that individuals with different personality disorders differ with respect to the intensity of underlying dependency needs, their degree of insight regarding these needs, the ways in which dependency needs are expressed in important interpersonal relationships, and characteristic defenses used to modulate underlying dependency needs. Clinical, theoretical, and empirical implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research on the dependency-personality disorders relationship are offered.