You know the situation: you sit down for a nice night of Netflix‘n’chill and you end up going to bed having watched little more than the menu screen, 30 seconds of six films and with an achey thumb from 0ver-use of the downward scroll button.
The chronic indecisiveness some people suffer when faced with the never-ending choice of Netflix is not only very annoying, it turns out those people are actually likely to be very needy, clingy and generally dependent.
The lack of confidence in their own choices causes them to rely on others to make an executive decision and is an indicator of ‘dependent personality disorder’.
Steve McKeown, Psychoanalyst, founder of MindFixers and owner of The McKeown Clinic, told UNILAD:
People who can’t decide what to watch on Netflix are more likely to suffer from ‘dependent personality disorder’.
People with DPD tend to display needy, passive and clinging behavior and a definite need for approval.
When deciding on a movie this person will struggle to make a choice due to fear, as they require large amounts of reassurance their film choice has been made as a collaboration, this will then create an onslaught of questioning, such as, ‘is this movie okay?’, ‘are you sure its okay?’.
Then, they may go on to say, ‘we can watch anything that you like’, after already having previously agreed, creating even more doubt.
Steve continued:
The night will have started with an obsessive flicking through endless movies only to end up watching a highly compromised movie neither of you wanted to watch in the first place!
The most common characteristics of this personality disorder include the inability to make their own decisions, even everyday decisions like what to wear.
Ultimately the DPD sufferer requires excessive reassurance even when choosing a movie due to the fear of loss of support. The only possible advantage of being with someone consumed by DPD (if indeed there is one), is they need others to assume responsibility.
If you’re assertive you could end up watching exactly what you wanted every time!
Netflix offers about 1,197 TV shows and 4,335 movies – a grand total of 5,532 titles to choose from – I suppose some people can be forgiven for struggling to choose a bit?
If you want to throw it back to the early noughties, when you used to have to choose your film and then the DVD was delivered to you (taking away the option of indecisiveness), Netflix actually still offer it to their US customers.
There are actually 4.3 million people who still subscribe to Netflix vintage DVD service where they pay $4.99 extra per month and actually get access to a wider range of films.
Take a long hard look at either yourself or your super indecisive Netflix partner and think about if they might have a ‘dependent personality disorder’.
The inability to choose between ‘drama’s with a strong female lead’ or ‘dysfunctional family dramas’ may be indicative of a much deeper problem?
