ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a framework for effective treatment of dependent personality disorder from a cognitive behavioral perspective. It includes sections on assessment, case conceptualization, and treatment interventions. The section on assessment includes behavioral and cognitive factors, as well as a DSM-5 description and a prototypic description of dependent personality disorder. The chapter emphasizes engagement, pattern analysis, pattern change, and pattern maintenance and termination strategies for effectively managing and treating dependent personality disorder. Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) utilizes cognitive and behavioral replacement strategies to effect change among dependent personality disordered individuals' maladaptive patterns. The schema change process, the clinician and individual work collaboratively to understand the developmental roots of the maladaptive schemas. The chapter discusses family therapy interventions involving individuals with the dependent personality. Clinical experience suggests that dependent personality disordered individuals are brought to family therapy by their parents.
