Dependent Personality Disorder Treatment in San Diego

Dependent personality disorder (DPD) is characterized by intense feelings of inadequacy or incompetence, extreme fear of being alone and severe helplessness. For people struggling with DPD, these feelings can seem relentless and inescapable, constantly keeping them from living full, self-sufficient lives.

Solara Mental Health understands the unique challenges that dependent personality disorder presents and has created a specialized therapeutic program to promote long-lasting relief and recovery in the lives of those with DPD. Our combination of individual psychotherapy, group therapy, holistic therapies, and psychiatric counseling allows clinicians to develop comprehensive, individualized, and flexible treatment plans for each veteran.

Through these plans, veterans are empowered to identify roadblocks on their path to healing, find ways to break down those roadblocks, and ultimately build up their sense of security and self-confidence.

One of the most common personality disorders, dependent personality disorder usually manifests itself in early adulthood. The disorder heavily impacts the formation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships. Those with DPD have extremely low self-esteem, an intense fear of being abandoned, and noticeable helplessness. 

As such, people with dependent personality disorder are heavily reliant on others, depending on them for everything from help getting through everyday tasks, making simple choices, and even maintaining a sense of self. For some with DPD, this dependence is so deeply ingrained that they may enter into—and remain in—damaging or abusive relationships because the fear of confrontation or abandonment runs so deep.

Symptoms of Dependent Personality Disorder vary from individual to individual, but can include the following:

• Inability to make choices without asking for help from others
• Avoiding disagreements or conflict out of fear of being abandoned
• The constant need for reassurance
• Lack of self-sufficiency
• Disproportionate anxiety about interpersonal relationships ending and extreme turmoil when they do
• Strong feelings of inadequacy, low self-confidence, and little self-trust

Each treatment is personalized and created based on each patient’s diagnosis, the most common dependent personality treatments include:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Usually known as psychotherapy or usually referred to as “talk therapy”, is the most common method to treat dependent personality disorder. CBT is a therapeutic practice designed to help people with mental health disorders address their current struggles and negative thoughts – learning to accept the things and situations they cannot change and take control of the things they can.

Psychodynamic Therapy 

The psychological interpretation of mental and emotional processes is known as psychodynamic therapy. Based on traditional psychoanalysis, it incorporates ego psychology, object relations, and self-psychology. An alternative to psychoanalysis, it is simpler and less time-consuming. 

Solara Mental Health in San Diego is focused on giving veterans a supportive and safe environment to recover from their Dependent Personality Disorder. Our mental health treatment facility recognizes that each veteran will have their own personal needs, and we will customize their treatment plan to help with their specific diagnosis and symptoms.

Solara Mental Health is VA-contracted, which gives us the unique opportunity to help veterans with their mental health needs, including Dependent Personality Disorder treatment. As long as authorization is approved, we provide housing, transportation, and accommodations.

The staff at our mental health treatment center understand how difficult these symptoms, both struggling with them and overcoming them, can be. To aid lasting recovery, Solara provides an inpatient program to veterans with dependent personality disorder, giving them a place away from both dependent relationships and damaging thought and behavior patterns. Away from these things, veterans can break destructive habits and learn new, healthy ones that will allow them to practice making independent decisions and build their self-confidence.

Our highly experienced and knowledgeable clinicians are familiar with the unique challenges that treating dependent personality disorder can present. As such, our clinicians are highly conscientious in all veteran interactions, ensuring that the veteran-therapist relationship does not become dependent. Similarly, the clinicians at our psychiatric facility create thorough and personalized treatment plans for each veteran, helping veterans delve into the roots of their dependency and develop new, healthy ways of managing symptoms. Through this process, veterans come to a fuller understanding of themselves and their worth, allowing them to build self-confidence, practice self-sufficiency, and create peaceful, healthy, and happy lives for themselves.

While our veterans make considerable and rapid improvements, a dependent personality disorder is often a long-term condition. Through years of experience, our mental health treatment center has learned how to provide the entire spectrum of care for our veterans.  From inpatient to outpatient, from transitional living to a long-term aftercare plan, our program has been designed to free our veterans from the clutches of dependent personality disorder.

Contact us now to start the healing process.