A 33-year-old woman lets her husband make all financial, medical, and household decisions because she fears making the wrong choice. She agrees with opinions she privately disagrees with to avoid losing approval, tolerates her husband's dismissiveness because she dreads being left to manage alone, and urgently seeks a new relationship whenever one ends. She does not feel inadequate as a person and craves closeness rather than fearing criticism. The most likely diagnosis is:

• A Avoidant personality disorder
• B Dependent personality disorder ✓
• C Borderline personality disorder
• D Histrionic personality disorder

Explanation

Excessive need to be taken care of, submissiveness, difficulty making decisions without excessive reassurance, and urgent movement to a replacement relationship when one ends define dependent personality disorder. This distinguishes it from avoidant personality disorder, whose core is hypersensitivity to criticism and feelings of inadequacy with inhibited initiation of relationships; here she actively seeks and depends on attachment. No impulsivity, self-harm, or identity disturbance points away from borderline personality disorder.

Reference: Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry, 11th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.