A Psychological Aspect of Susan Smith: Dependent Personality Disorder
On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith drowned her two sons, Michael and Alex, in the John D. Long Lake in Union County, South Carolina. For nine days she lied about knowing where the boys were. On November 3, she confessed to the killings and would soon go to trial.
Susan’s defense team hired a psychiatrist to conduct a psychiatric evaluation of her. She was diagnosed as having dependent personality disorder. He described her as a person who “feels she can’t do anything on her own”. “She constantly needs affection and becomes terrified that she’ll be left alone” She was only depressed when she was alone. The psychiatrist studied her family history and concluded that based on her family history and his interviews with her, Susan had a tendency toward depression that began in her childhood. Susan’s attorney argued that his client was psychologically destabilized by a lifetime of betrayal. A father who killed himself when she was just six, a stepfather who sexually molested her as a child, a husband who cheated on her and a boyfriend who toyed with her affections (Pergament).
Her boyfriend testified that “the pleasure she got from sex was not physical pleasure, it was just in being close and being loved”. The psychiatrist testified that Susan had sex with four different men during the six-week period leading up to the murders and she had begun to drink heavily during this time (Pergament). Alcoholism is a component of dependent personality disorder.
After only four days of testimony, the defense rested its case. Susan was charged with two counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole in 30 years, the year 2025.
Dependent personality disorder is an inability to function without significant reliance on a forceful or dominant person providing direction. Individuals diagnosed with dependent personality disorder are usually quiet, and needy for attention, valuation, and social contact. Lack of self-confidence and relying on others are typical. Threatened with solitude or separation, a dependent disorder person may panic with feelings of profound helplessness (Gillihan). The person may be convinced that he/she is incapable...
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...ost effective in treatment (Gillihan).
In conclusion, The National Mental Health Association suggests that:
There are many types of help available for different personality disorders. Treatment may include individual, group, or family psychotherapy. Medications prescribed by the patient’s physician may also be helpful in relieving some of the symptoms of personality disorders including problems with anxiety and depression.
References
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV. (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author
Bornstein, Robert F. (1993). The Dependent Personality. New York: Guilford Press
Gillihan, Lori. (n.d). Dependent Personality Disorder. Retrieved March 1, 2002, from http://cstl-coe.semo.edu
National Mental Health Association. (n.d.). Personality Disorders. Retrieved from http://www.nmha.org
Pergament, Rachel. (n.d.). Susan Smith: Child Murderer or Victim? Retrieved March 1, 2002 from http://www.crimelibrary.com
Rey, Joseph M. (1996) Antecedents of Personality Disorders in Young Adults. Psychiatric Times, 13 (2). Retrieved March 1, 2002, from http://www.mhsource.com
Torgersen, S. (2009). The nature (and nurture) of personality disorders. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 50(6), 624-632. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9450.2009.00788.x
Helling, SteveSmolowe, Jill. "Casey Anthony LIVING IN FEAR." People 76.13 (2011): 78. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web.
Susan Smith could have been a normal woman. If you passed her on the streets you wouldn’t know that she would turn out to be a killer. Susan had a secret though, a deadly secret. Susan Smith was a cold, calculating killer, capable of murder in cold blood. I believe Susan had many factors contributing to the state of mind she had before the murder of her two sons, like her traumatizing childhood and the many dysfunctional relationships she had.
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
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Personality disorders have always been viewed as a possible category for a psychological disorder. However, in the new edition of the DSM, it will be getting its own diagnostic category. In viewing personality disorder, one can only agree that it should have its own diagnostic category. The reason that these changes are being supported is because of the causation, diagnosis, and treatment of personality disorders.
In a person’s life, they may encounter and be face with many challenging circumstances or situations that may deeply affect them. It may make a person feel like they are a failure or even cause heartbreak of some kind. These situations may cause a person who once was so outgoing and happy to become detach from the outside world and avoid interaction with people and relationships. A new study has shown that about 31 million Americans has a personality disorder (Davis, 2017). Personality disorders is a type of mental disorder that makes individuals suffering from this to exhibit persistent unsuitable and abnormal behaviors, thinking, and at times they have trouble perceiving information and situations in a healthy way (Butcher, Hooley,
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