Online therapy for dependent personality disorder from just $25/session with licensed therapists (PhD, PsyD, LCSW, LMHC, LMFT) specializing in CBT and schema therapy for dependent personality disorder, along with assertiveness training. At Grouport, we offer online individual therapy, online group therapy, and virtual IOP options designed to help you build confidence in your own judgment, develop independence, and create relationships grounded in choice rather than need.
Whether you prefer personalized one-on-one care or the shared support of a therapist-led group, our online DPD therapy connects you to expert guidance from the comfort of your own home. Online therapy can be especially helpful for dependent personality disorder because it provides a supportive relationship with a therapist while simultaneously building the independence and self-trust you need.
Consistently Recognized as the #1 Online Therapy pick
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At Grouport, we offer a range of dependent personality disorder treatment options to help individuals build self-confidence, develop decision-making skills, and create a life where relationships are based on genuine connection rather than fear of being alone. Many members choose to mix and match therapy formats.
DPD is more than just wanting close relationships. It is a pattern of excessive, pervasive reliance on others to make decisions, take responsibility, and provide emotional support, rooted in a deep fear of being alone or abandoned. People with DPD often struggle to trust their own judgment, express disagreement, or initiate things without reassurance, which can keep them stuck in relationships that feel safe but limit their growth. If these patterns persist, dependent personality disorder therapy can help you build confidence in your own decisions, develop a secure sense of self, and form healthier, more balanced relationships.
Common signs to watch for include:
If you recognize these patterns in yourself or a loved one, working with a licensed therapist can help.
Dependent personality disorder does not just make you a caring or loyal person. The excessive need for reassurance, inability to function independently, and fear of abandonment it creates can trap you in unhealthy dynamics and prevent you from discovering your own strength.
DPD creates a dangerous vulnerability. Your need for care and fear of abandonment can keep you in relationships that are controlling, neglectful, or abusive. You may tolerate mistreatment because leaving feels more terrifying than staying. Partners who take advantage of your dependency can reinforce the very patterns that keep you trapped.
DPD can severely limit your professional development. You may avoid promotions that require independent decision-making, defer to colleagues on every task, struggle to take initiative, or stay in unfulfilling roles because a supervisor provides the structure you depend on. Your actual competence far exceeds your belief in it.
Tasks that most adults handle routinely, like managing finances, scheduling appointments, or navigating unfamiliar situations, can feel overwhelming. You may rely on a partner, parent, or friend to handle these responsibilities, which reinforces the belief that you cannot cope on your own.
When your sense of self is built around someone else, you lose track of who you actually are. Your opinions, preferences, and goals may simply mirror whoever you are currently dependent on. This creates a fragile identity that collapses when relationships change.
DPD can make friendships lopsided. You may be the one who always defers, agrees, and accommodates, which initially seems easygoing but eventually exhausts friends who want a more reciprocal dynamic. You may also struggle to maintain friendships independently of your primary attachment figure.
DPD frequently co-occurs with depression, anxiety disorders, and other personality disorders. The chronic fear of abandonment, suppression of your own needs, and sense of helplessness create fertile ground for depressive episodes, especially when a relationship ends or changes.
Starting therapy when you are already exhausted and unmotivated can feel like a big ask. Here is what your first few sessions typically look like.
Your therapist will ask about your relationships, your experience with making decisions, and what brought you to therapy. Seeking therapy is itself an act of independence, and your therapist will recognize that. This is a space where your voice matters and where learning to trust yourself begins.
Together, you will examine the relationships and situations where dependency shows up: who you rely on, what you defer on, and what happens when you are alone. Your therapist will help you understand the beliefs driving these patterns, such as "I cannot cope on my own" or "If I disagree, they will leave."
You and your therapist will define what progress looks like for you. This might include making a decision without seeking reassurance, expressing a disagreement, completing a task independently, or evaluating whether your current relationships are healthy. Goals are always personalized and at your pace.
Your therapist will introduce evidence-based techniques like cognitive restructuring, assertiveness exercises, behavioral experiments in independence, and schema exploration. You will leave your first session with a clear understanding of the approach and an initial step toward self-trust.
See how our therapy options have helped our members experience life-changing results
Stephanie
“Grouport is time flexible and affordable and if it didn’t exist, I don’t know where I would go. I had looked into other places before Grouport and there really wasn’t any option like it.”
Michael
“I highly recommend this to anyone who is struggling with anxiety or depression. The therapists are top notch and have made me feel really comfortable and my anxiety has improved tremendously in only a few sessions!”
Isabel
"I joined Grouport to work on myself and to heal. I’m learning so much at every session! The change I see not only in myself but in my fellow group members is abundantly encouraging and profoundly fulfilling. Group therapy with Grouport is a powerful healing tool."
Sheldon
“I was feeling very down at the end of 2020 and I was ready to do something drastic that I know I'd likely regret. The group definitely helped show me that there are people who feel the same way as I do.”
Nancy
“The therapy from Grouport is high quality and convenient. I am becoming much more self aware and am liking myself more. My relationships at work are better and I’m much happier.”
Emily
“I like the connection you can make with total strangers and the confidentiality it comes with.”
Danielle
"Grouport can help you with your issues. Their therapists are well trained to work with you on your issues. I felt my anxiety greatly improve after only a few sessions. I highly recommend it!"
Glenn
"Grouport's approach to DBT is a real strength. This approach provides tools and methods for working with difficult emotions and getting a handle on them. It has given me hope where other approaches have failed."
At Grouport, our virtual DPD therapy integrates several evidence-based techniques designed to help you build self-confidence, develop assertiveness, and create a life where your relationships are chosen freely rather than driven by fear:
CBT helps you identify and challenge the core beliefs that maintain dependency, such as "I cannot handle things on my own," "My opinions do not matter," "If I disagree, people will leave me," and "I need someone to take care of me." By testing these beliefs through gradual behavioral experiments, like making a decision without asking for reassurance, you build evidence that you are far more capable than you believe.
Schema therapy targets the deep, enduring patterns that form the foundation of DPD, particularly the dependence/incompetence schema, the subjugation schema, and the abandonment schema. It addresses the early experiences that taught you that you are not capable of taking care of yourself and that your only safety comes from attaching to someone stronger.
Assertiveness training provides concrete, practical skills for expressing your needs, opinions, and boundaries. This includes saying "no" without excessive guilt, voicing disagreement respectfully, making requests directly, and tolerating the discomfort that comes with standing your ground. Skills are built gradually through role-play, practice, and real-world exercises at a pace that feels manageable.
Schema therapy goes beyond surface-level thoughts to address deep emotional patterns. Through techniques like imagery rescripting, limited reparenting, and chair work, schema therapy helps you process the early experiences that created your belief that you cannot survive without someone else, and develop an internal sense of competence and self-worth that does not depend on another person.
ACT helps you accept the anxiety and discomfort that arise when you act independently, without reverting to seeking reassurance or deferring to others. By connecting your daily choices to your deeper values, like self-respect, authentic relationships, or personal growth, ACT helps you choose independence even when dependency feels safer.
DBT skills, particularly distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness, give you practical tools for managing the anxiety and relational challenges of DPD. Distress tolerance helps you sit with the fear of being alone or disapproved of without immediately seeking reassurance. Interpersonal effectiveness skills like DEAR MAN help you express needs and set boundaries while maintaining relationships, proving that assertiveness does not lead to abandonment.
Every Grouport therapist is a licensed, accredited mental health professional. Our network includes dependent personality disorder therapists trained in assertiveness development.
Our therapists typically have over a decade of clinical experience across diverse settings, with specialized expertise in personality disorders, dependent personality disorder, self-esteem, and assertiveness, and evidence-based interventions like CBT, schema therapy, assertiveness training, and DBT.
We continually evaluate outcomes through internal studies and outcomes studies with researchers from leading universities such as Carnegie Mellon, University of Essex, and University of Cologne.
MEET OUR THERAPISTS
a healthier future starts right here
80%of our members start with moderate to severe mental health symptoms
70% of our members feel significantly better within just 8 weeks
50% of our members achieve remission levels within just 8 weeks
80%
of our members start with moderate to severe mental health symptoms
70%
of our members feel significantly better within just 8 weeks
50%
of our members achieve remission levels within just 8 weeks
Group, individual, couples, family, IOP, and teen therapy - all online, all therapist-led. Mix and match care options to fit your needs , and get discounted pricing when you bundle.
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Dependent Personality Disorder often co-occurs with other mental health conditions. Our licensed therapists are experienced in treating a wide range of challenges, and many members address multiple concerns simultaneously through our flexible therapy options.
Whether dependency and fear of abandonment are keeping you from discovering your own strength and living on your own terms, or you're ready to build relationships based on choice rather than fear, dependent personality disorder therapy can help you take back control. Start building a life where you trust your own judgment.
