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......

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Title: Dependent Personality Disorder
Approximate Word Count: 1171
Approximate Pages: 5 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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