People with these disorders are also frequently very rigid in how they act and what they feel they must do, and so they often drive people away, creating a distance between them and others that is often very hard to overcome. Studies have shown that many personality disorders develop in childhood or early adulthood, and that often people suffering from these disorders have difficulty learning, and great difficulty in changing their behavior. Psychologist Alan Carr notes that people with personality disorders "repeatedly make the same mistakes and find it very challenging to learn from their errors. Often they are unaware of the impact of their behavior on others, or wish to conceal their history of social and psychological difficulties" (Carr, 2001, p. 138). Carr also notes that people with personality disorders are often suffering from other psychological problems, and that many people with these disorders can also be criminals (Carr, 2001, p. 138). Personality disorders are grouped into "clusters" by their common threads. There are three clusters. The first cluster includes paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders. The second cluster includes antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders, and the third cluster includes avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. These last three disorders all have anxiety and fear in common, and that is why they are grouped together. Dependent personality disorder falls into this category, and DPD is the specific disorder this paper researches and explains.

             Dependent Personality Disorder: What is it?.

             Dependent personality disorder is a disorder that causes people to be afraid of making their own decisions and of being left by their partner, parent, or other important person in their life. They tend to be very fearful of being alone and of thinking on their own. The American Psychological Association defines DPD as "'a pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of that leads to submissive and clinging behavior and fears of separation'" (Bornstein, 1998, p.