Washington state fifth graders plotted to kill girl, authorities say

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31. No

in this case, I, and most psychologists, would be much more likely to diagnose one of the young men, if the case warranted it, with the beginnings of a dependent personality disorder.

Codependency is not a universally recognized psychological disorder. It is a part of the addiction model of recovery. In that model, there is no treatment outcome. With DPD, the goal of treatment is to encourage autonomous actions instead of some sort of mythical independence. Some temperaments are more desirous of connections. DPD is an extreme pathological expression of that base temperament. In a positive expression, it may describe an individual who is capable of commitments with high levels of intimacy and who enjoy being in groups where they have no desire to ever be the leader.

I worked at a large treatment center in Tucson for several years. I watched 'co-dependents' either encouraged to flip flop into extremes of aggressiveness and independence or shamed for their innate desire to be in committed, intimate groups while being a follower and not a leader.

These boys are 10 to 12 years old. We are looking at innate temperaments, shaped by cultural and familial circumstances, that have supported them in sliding into pathological expressions of planned violence. Even if this young girl was 'mean', that is not the same thing as bullying. There may be a reason for their behavior, but there is no excuse. I applaud the authorities for taking this very seriously, because as one poster above mentioned, this type of violence at a young age does not bode well for future rehabilitation or mental well-being. Sadly, I once worked with a young man who at about this same age raped and strangled a girl a few years younger than himself. He is, and still remains, a convicted violent sexual predator in permanent resident at the Arizona State Hospital.