Psychology Roots
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Good-Patient Role
Yes, this is an actual term. It refers to the situation in which patients (quite often depressed, anxious, and helpless patients) exhibit cooperative, unquestioning, undemanding patient behavior, to an excessive degree. These people may go to extremes because they believe that, as a result of their condition, that they are so helpless and dependent upon others that they must act in these ways for fear of being abandoned.
