Self-Criticism and Dependency

Abstract

Self-criticism and dependency are personality constructs that confer risk for a wide range of
psychopathological and negative psychosocial outcomes. Self-criticism is characterized by a
poor sense of self-worth, fear of failure, a sense of guilt, and excessive concerns about social
status. Dependency is characterized by a sense of self-worth that is dependent on care and
support from close others, as well as excessive fears of loss, abandonment, and rejection.
This entry examines these constructs with regard to psychosocial development, personality,
and psychopathology.

Full text

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Abnormal
and Clinical Psychology
Self-Criticism and Dependency
Contributors: Daniel C. Kopala-Sibley & David C. Zuroff
Edited by: Amy Wenzel
Book Title: The SAGE Encyclopedia of Abnormal and Clinical Psychology
Chapter Title: "Self-Criticism and Dependency"
Pub. Date: 2017
Access Date: April 11, 2017
Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc.
City: Thousand Oaks,
Print ISBN: 9781483365831
Online ISBN: 9781483365817
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483365817.n1208
Print pages: 3031-3033
©2017 SAGE Publications, Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
This PDF has been generated from SAGE Knowledge. Please note that the pagination of
the online version will vary from the pagination of the print book.

Self-criticism and dependency are personality constructs that confer risk for a wide range of
psychopathological and negative psychosocial outcomes. Self-criticism is characterized by a
poor sense of self-worth, fear of failure, a sense of guilt, and excessive concerns about social
status. Dependency is characterized by a sense of self-worth that is dependent on care and
support from close others, as well as excessive fears of loss, abandonment, and rejection.
This entry examines these constructs with regard to psychosocial development, personality,
and psychopathology.
The Two-Polarities Model of Psychosocial Development
In 1974, Sidney Blatt, a psychologist and psychoanalyst at Yale University, proposed that
there are two subtypes of depression, which he labeled anaclitic (dependent) and introjective
(self-critical). Individuals who are anaclitically depressed are characterized by a sense of loss,
loneliness, and rejection, whereas individuals who are introjectively depressed experience a
sense of low self-worth, shame, guilt, and failure. Subsequent research indicated that the
underlying dispositions to experience these states were stable personality characteristics that
could be measured using the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ). This
questionnaire is used throughout the world, having been translated into more than 20
languages.
Blatt elaborated his observation of the two forms of depression into a comprehensive theory of
development, personality, and psychopathology, which is known as the two-polarities model.
The core idea is that self-definition (or one’s sense of self) and relatedness (or one’s sense of
relationships with close others) are fundamental psychological factors integral to healthy
functioning as well as the development of psychopathology. They develop across the lifespan
in a dialectical interaction with each other and significant life experiences.
According to this model, relatedness involves the development of increasingly mature,
intimate, mutually satisfying, reciprocal interpersonal relationships from infancy through
adulthood. However, delays or deficits in the development of a healthy sense of relatedness
may lead to high levels of a personality style labeled dependency. Blatt argued that
dependency stems from developmental experiences of overprotection or lack of care, as well
as experiences of care being contingent on the child’s expressing affection toward the
caregiver. These experiences engender a delay in the development of relatedness and a
dependent personality style characterized by high levels of insecurity regarding close others
and a sense of self-worth that is contingent on the care and support of others.
A more complex understanding of dependency has emerged in recent years as Blatt and his
colleagues, as well as several other research groups, have provided evidence that there are
subtypes of dependency that vary in being more or less adaptive. One form, sometimes
labeled neediness, is characterized by fears of loss or rejection and a sense of self-worth that
is dependent on care and support from others. A relatively more adaptive form, sometimes
labeled connectedness, is characterized by high levels of interpersonal attunement,
connection to others, and awareness of one’s impact on others.
Self-definition requires the development of the ability to hold a complex understanding of
one’s self across different situations and domains of life (differentiated), in which one’s
positive and negative qualities (e.g., failures or perceived inadequacies) as well as the
different selves across domains are reconciled into a cohesive sense of self (integrated) that is
neither overinflated nor overly self-deprecating (realistic) and that is, on the whole, positive.
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Delays or a deficit in self-definition may lead both to pathologies characterized by low self-
worth (e.g., depression) and to those characterized by an inflated sense of self (e.g.,
narcissistic personality disorder). Delays or deficits in the development of self-definition may
lead to high levels of a personality style labeled self-criticism. According to Blatt, self-criticism
stems from developmental experiences that undermine the emergence of autonomy via
physical control, high performance expectations, and excessive criticism. The child
experiences approval and acceptance as being contingent on meeting those strict standards
and becomes driven by the fear of loss of approval and acceptance. These developmental
experiences may eventually lead to a deficit in self-definition and a highly self-critical
personality style, in which there is an excessive need to ascertain, confirm, and preserve
status and value in the eyes of important others.
Research on the Development of Self-Criticism and Dependency
Blatt’s theories have spurred research into the developmental origins of self-criticism and
dependency, demonstrating that experiences of one’s parents being critical, uncaring,
controlling, or maltreating are robustly associated with high levels of self-criticism or
dependency in adulthood. However, more recent research has expanded on these
developmental findings. For instance, consistent with Blatt’s proposal that healthy
psychological development is characterized by improvements in self-definition and
relatedness, one study found that self-criticism and dependency show linear, age-related
decreases from young adulthood through middle age.
The developmental literature has also moved beyond examining only the influences of
parents. Blatt’s theory suggests that a variety of meaningful experiences pertaining to self-
definition and relatedness should influence the trajectories of these personality traits.
Consistent with this, recent research has found that the quality of just one close friendship
during emerging adulthood predicts changes in self-criticism over a 1-year period, whereas
forming a new romantic relationship during that period is related to increases in
connectedness. Similarly, researchers have sought to test the domain specificity aspect of
Blatt’s model. Research has found that specific types of parental psychological control,
namely achievement oriented and interpersonally oriented, predict the development of self-
criticism and dependency in adolescence, respectively. Other recent research has found that,
over 2 years into early adolescence and across areas in life (e.g., parents, siblings, peers,
romantic partners, academic achievement), events that affect one’s sense of self uniquely
predict changes in self-criticism, whereas events that affect one’s relationships with others
uniquely predict changes in dependency. A recent review by Daniel C. Kopala-Sibley and
David C. Zuroff summarized these findings and proposed an elaborated model of the
development of self-definition and relatedness and their roles as risk factors for
psychopathology.
Psychological Correlates of Self-Criticism and Dependency
The correlates of self-criticism and dependency are wide-ranging, including interpersonal,
cognitive, motivational, and coping characteristics. Highly self-critical individuals self-disclose
to others less, have lower perceived social support, are less warm and more hostile to others,
and are more variable in their interpersonal behaviors. Likely because of these interpersonal
tendencies, self-critical individuals tend to be dissatisfied in their relationships, including with
their romantic partners, their parents, and their own children. More generally, they experience
high levels of hassles, negative life events, and major life stressors, which likely feed back
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into their poor sense of self and risk for psychopathology. Self-criticism has also been linked
to lower autonomous motivation, maladaptive goals and goal pursuit, poor coping skills,
perfectionism, and low self-compassion.
Dependency, given its dual adaptive and maladaptive nature, is associated with both positive
and negative interpersonal patterns and outcomes. Dependent individuals tend to be more
agreeable and caring, and they receive more social support. However, they tend to be more
submissive but also more demanding in their interpersonal relationships. Their high needs for
care and support also lead to their feeling less satisfied in their romantic relationships.
Perhaps because of their clingy behavior in relationships, the relationships of dependent
individuals tend to begin on a positive note but deteriorate over time as the other person
withdraws in the face of the dependent individual’s excessive demands for care and support.
Finally, dependent individuals also report being more likely to be exploited by both romantic
partners and friends.
Self-Criticism and Dependency as Predictors of Maladjustment
Although originally viewed as vulnerabilities to depression, subsequent research has linked
self-criticism and dependency to a variety of negative psychosocial outcomes that are not
mental health disorders. In addition to the negative interpersonal correlates enumerated in the
previous section, self-criticism and dependency are associated with lower education and
occupational status, job burnout, problem gambling behavior, suicide and nonsuicidal self-
injury, chronic pain, social anxiety, anger, and aggression.
Self-Criticism and Dependency as Transdiagnostic Vulnerabilities to Psychopathology
Self-criticism in particular is concurrently and prospectively associated with a range of mental
health disorders in addition to depression, including internalizing and externalizing disorders,
eating disorders, substance abuse, posttraumatic stress disorder, postpartum depression,
perimenopausal depression, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar
disorder, and borderline personality disorder. Dependency generally shows more modest
relationships with these disorders.
There are several pathways leading from dependency and self-criticism to maladjustment and
psychopathology. Blatt and Zuroff proposed a diathesis-stress model in which the personality
variables intensified the impact of stressful events. However, self-criticism and dependency
are also associated with poor coping and stress generation, which lead to higher levels of
negative events. Also, their impaired social relationships reduce the buffering effects of social
support. Moreover, the negative events and impaired relationships confirm and maintain the
personality traits, thereby reinforcing individuals’ vulnerability to psychopathology.
Evidence also suggests that self-critical individuals show poorer outcomes in psychotherapy
for depression, whereas there is some evidence that the adaptive form of dependency is
related to better outcomes. Several factors may explain the effect of self-criticism on
psychotherapy process and outcome, including the negative effects on motivation for
treatment, the quality of the therapeutic relationship, and relationships outside therapy.
Conversely, reduction in self-criticism over the course of treatment for depression predicts
symptomatic improvement. Thus, it is important for therapists to evaluate these traits prior to
treatment and to monitor them during the course of treatment.
See alsoAlternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders; Depressive Disorders: Risk for;
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Structure of Personality and Psychoanalytic Theory; Treatment of Depression Collaborative
Research Program
Daniel C. Kopala-SibleyDavid C. Zuroff
http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483365817.n1208
10.4135/9781483365817.n1208
Further Readings
Blatt, S. J. (1974). Levels of object representation in anaclitic and introjective depression.
Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 29, 107–157.
Blatt, S. J. (2004). Experiences of depression: Theoretical, research and clinical perspectives.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Blatt, S. J., & Zuroff, D. C. (1992). Interpersonal relatedness and self-definition: Two
prototypes for depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 12,
527–562.doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0272-7358(92)90070-O
Blatt, S. J., Zuroff, D. C., Hawley, L. L., & Auerbach, J. S. (2010). Predictors of sustained
therapeutic change. Psychotherapy Research, 20(1),
37–54.doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10503300903121080
Bornstein, R. F. (1993). The dependent personality. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Gilbert, P., Clarke, M., Hempel, S., Miles, J. N. V., & Irons, C. (2004). Criticizing and
reassuring oneself: An exploration of forms, styles and reasons in female students. British
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43(1), 31–50.
Kopala-Sibley, D. C., & Zuroff, D. C. (2014). The developmental origins of personality factors
from the self-definitional and relatedness domains: A review of theory and research. Review of
General Psychology, 18(3), 137.doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000013
Luyten, P. , & Blatt, S. J. (2013). Interpersonal relatedness and self-definition in normal and
disrupted personality development: Retrospect and prospect. American Psychologist, 68,
172–183.doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0032243
Shahar, G. (2015). Erosion: The psychopathology of self-criticism. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
Zuroff, D. C., Mongrain, M., & Santor, D. A. (2004). Conceptualizing and measuring
personality vulnerability to depression: Comment on Coyne and Whiffen (1995). Psychological
Bulletin, 130, 489–511. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.489
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