Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in the assessment process of dependent personality
disorder (DPD) between Japanese and American clinicians. The result of assessing Japanese patients by using
the SWAP-200, which quantifies the assessor 's professional observations, showed that the DPD prototype (i.e.
helpless, submissive people persistently seek excessive dependence), which American clinicians understand as
the typical DPD, was uncorrelated with the typical image of DPD that Japanese clinicians understand (i.e.
helpless people whom the other feels it necessary to help and allow them to be dependent) . It is possibly because the dependence implies non-autonomy and non-independency and may elicit contempt in the U.S., whereas it represents interdependency based on the desire to rely on the good will of the other person to do something for them, which has been explained by "amae " as a unique part of Japanese culture in Japan. Since the dependence is deeply rooted in Japanese culture as "amae " and defines unique interpersonal patterns, DPD could be reviewed for Japanese in a different way than original SWAP-200.
