Someone with a dependent personality disorder needs to be taken care of and has a fear of being abandoned or separated from important individuals in his or her life; they tend to cling on to other people for happiness. Robyn, a 21 year old, has been diagnosed with dependent personality disorder. Ever since she was little, her father verbally and emotionally abused her. This factor made her dependent on others and had abusive involvements with others, such as her boyfriend Erik. Erik treated her badly, suggested her to pay for everything, and had other affairs with other women. With all of his bad qualities, she still decided stayed with him. She admitted her father's actions shaped her into the person she was today by claiming, "My father treated me this way and I guess I expected other people to act that way." Her father could have influenced her decision with being dependent on her boyfriend because it was the only love she had ever experienced.