“A pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of that leads to submissive and clinging behavior” (APA, 2013, p. 675) characterizes Dependent Personality Disorder. This description aptly defines the personality of Buster Bluth from the television show Arrested Development. Buster has difficulty making everyday decisions, has issues with expressing disagreement, seeks out another close relationship once one goes awry, goes to excessive lengths to obtain nurture, has anxiety when faced with difficult decisions, and his social relationships are limited. All these traits are symptoms of Dependent Personality Disorder (APA, 2013, p. 675). Buster Bluth should be diagnosed with Dependent Personality Disorder based off of this evidence. The first
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Though Buster seeks out his mother’s advice, he sometimes does not like it and will not express this to her in fear of upsetting her. For instance, when she tells Buster to wear the blue sweater with the gray pants he tells his brother that he hates the blue sweater once they hang up with Lucille (Martin and Rosenstock, 2004). He will also do things that she demands such as not wearing his glasses to look better even though he cannot see without them (Copeland, 2003). He does not do anything when Lucille yells at him even if it is for a minor thing. He does not only exhibit this behavior around his mother either. When he goes to live with his brother, his siblings are all criticizing their mom and to fit in, Buster says some horrible things about her. He later reveals that he was in fact only doing it because he wanted to gain their approval and that he “loves mom” (Hurwitz and Rosenstock, 2003). This level of passivity is severe enough to diagnose Buster with Dependent Personality …show more content…
Buster only wants the love and attention of his mother and feels threatened when she adopts a young Korean boy, Annyoung (Martin and Vallely, 2004). Lucille uses the boy to intentionally make Buster jealous and it works. Buster does things such as joining the army (Hurwitz and Rosenstock, 2004), getting a job at the family company (Copeland, 2004), and joining a soccer team (Hurwitz and Rosenstock, 2004). He does these things because Lucille praises Annyoung for his work ethic and skills on the soccer team. Buster does not like to do work and prefers to be a scholar (Copeland, 2004). Buster is allowing his need for love and attention to decide some vital decisions for him. This type of behavior should be a cause for concern that Buster has Dependent Personality
Though Buster seeks out his mother’s advice, he sometimes does not like it and will not express this to her in fear of upsetting her. For instance, when she tells Buster to wear the blue sweater with the gray pants he tells his brother that he hates the blue sweater once they hang up with Lucille (Martin and Rosenstock, 2004). He will also do things that she demands such as not wearing his glasses to look better even though he cannot see without them (Copeland, 2003). He does not do anything when Lucille yells at him even if it is for a minor thing. He does not only exhibit this behavior around his mother either. When he goes to live with his brother, his siblings are all criticizing their mom and to fit in, Buster says some horrible things about her. He later reveals that he was in fact only doing it because he wanted to gain their approval and that he “loves mom” (Hurwitz and Rosenstock, 2003). This level of passivity is severe enough to diagnose Buster with Dependent Personality …show more content…
Buster only wants the love and attention of his mother and feels threatened when she adopts a young Korean boy, Annyoung (Martin and Vallely, 2004). Lucille uses the boy to intentionally make Buster jealous and it works. Buster does things such as joining the army (Hurwitz and Rosenstock, 2004), getting a job at the family company (Copeland, 2004), and joining a soccer team (Hurwitz and Rosenstock, 2004). He does these things because Lucille praises Annyoung for his work ethic and skills on the soccer team. Buster does not like to do work and prefers to be a scholar (Copeland, 2004). Buster is allowing his need for love and attention to decide some vital decisions for him. This type of behavior should be a cause for concern that Buster has Dependent Personality