As a consequence she reported the matter to the Social Service Department and her step father was undergone counseling. But she got no support from her family and her gesture of making the matter public was criticized by her family members which again made her lonely even in her family. Moreover when his step father came back, again her sexual harassment began but this time she didn’t complain to anywhere for the fear of public humiliation. Again this incident proved that how lonely she was and left a permanent scar on her mind.
This unfavorable condition even within her family made her desperate to find someone to get rid of this menace. Now if we consider her relationship with other men we will see that she had relationship with more than one man at a time which is due to her loneliness and desire to get some friend and more importantly their support. Among these men there was a married man and for the relationship with that man she became pregnant and went under abortion. This relationship also ended and soon after this incident Susan tried to commit suicide. This clearly indicates the fact that how badly she was in search of a true relationship.
Again to get out of her loneliness she began another relationship with Mr. David Smith and this relationship in its due course got matured and they married on March 15, 1991. They lived some days happily with their two children but once again due to David’s relationship with another woman deteriorated the situation leading to their separation. Loneliness once again came into her life and plunged her into the darkness of absolute despair. At that time she came into contact with Mr. Tom Findlay and again she desperately tried to get Mr. Findlay as her partner.
Mr.Findlay was not so eager in this relationship and this fact devastated her immensely because she was not ready to accept the reality. Under these circumstances she planned for suicide after killing her two sons because she thought it would be impossible for her children to live without her. Being firm in her decision, she strapped her sleeping children with the car seats and drove to John D. Long Lake. On reaching a ramp, she put the car in motion in the direction of the lake water but at the very last moment driven by her instinct she got out of the car and observed as the car with her two children sank into the lake.
(Rekers, George (1996). Susan Smith: Victim or Murderer. Lakewood, CO: Glenbridge Publishing Ltd. ) From all these incidents we can conclude that she can’t live alone, always needed assurance and guidance from others. She alone would be incapable to care for herself and this idea inspired her in making relationship one after another. Basically she tried to get moral support from a relationship and wanted to get rid of her loneliness. All these characteristics of Susan help us to reach the conclusion that Susan’s case is an example of Dependent Personality Disorder.
After all if we reconsider Susan’s case keeping some points in mind like whether she needed others to accomplish her responsibilities, whether she badly needed other’s support throughout her life, whether she engaged herself to build another relationship just after a relationship is over and lastly whether she faced difficulties to live alone and obsessed by the thinking of being alone, we will get affirmative answers in all the above cases. Again this fact clearly confirmed that Susan’s case is an example of Dependent Personality Disorder.
Dependent Personality Disorder is mainly characterized by over dependence of the patient on others to take any decision and fear of separation from others which was common to Susan’s character. Moreover the person suffering from this disorder is submissive in nature and he or she tries to stick close to others for the fear of loneliness which was also present in Susan’s character. But one thing which is most important is that in this case the diagnosis should be done very cautiously because sometimes the distinctive characteristics of this Disorder may appear in children in natural course with the advancement of age.
Sometimes several complications like addiction to alcohol or drug, frequent involvement in sexual relationship with more than one person as seen in Susan’s Case, may arise from this disorder. Another important thing about this disorder is that sometimes many other disorders like Anxiety Disorder; other Personality Disorders like Borderline Disorders occur simultaneously with this disorder and this phenomenon is often termed as Comorbidity.
Treatment of Dependent Personality Disorders mainly includes Psychotherapy of the patient and his or her family members and use of medicines. Psychotherapy includes counseling of the concerned person and also of those who are associated with him or her e. g. members of the family, colleagues and friends. Counseling of the person with Dependent Personality Disorders helps him or her to discard his or her irrational thinking. Consequently the patient’s unreasonable demands which embarrass others also decrease to a large extent.
Counseling on the part of others who live in the close proximity of the patient helps them to consider the irrational actions and behaviors of the patient with patience and to give him or her continuous mental support. When we consider the effect of medicines on a patient of Dependent Personality Disorder we see that sometimes medicines are effective in decreasing the mental strain of the patient arising from hopelessness and anxiety. If still no improvement is found and situation worsens then it may be useful to take other expert’s view or to refer to other specialists.
So far we have discussed about several important incidents of Susan’s life which had a deep impact on her and analyzed her character from different angles. Then we have tried to analyze and categorize her problem according to the DSM – IV-TR system which provides us a way through which we find out her problems and finally we have made attempts to determine a procedure of treatment which can be efficiently implemented and will be able to bring positive results improving the patient’s condition.
References
Rekers, George (1996). Susan Smith: Victim or Murderer. Lakewood, CO: Glenbridge Publishing Ltd. http://www.dhs.state.or.us/caf/safety_model/procedure_manual/appendices/ch4-app/4-5.pdf