Anxiety Forum

[sidster]

''Avoidant personality disorder (APD or AvPD)[1] or Anxious personality disorder (APD)[2] is a personality disorder from the DSM handbook, characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation and avoidance of social interaction. People with avoidant personality disorder often consider themselves to be socially inept or personally unappealing, and avoid social interaction for fear of being ridiculed, humiliated, rejected or disliked. They typically present themselves as loners and report feeling a sense of alienation from society.

Avoidant personality disorder is usually first noticed in early adulthood, and is associated with perceived or actual rejection by parent or peers during childhood. Whether the feeling of rejection is due to the extreme interpersonal monitoring attributed to people with the disorder is still disputed.''

''Diagnostic criteria (DSM-IV-TR)
The American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV-TR, a widely used manual for diagnosing mental disorders, defines avoidant personality disorder as a "pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

Avoids occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact, because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection
Is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being liked
Shows restraint initiating intimate relationships because of the fear of being shamed, ridiculed, or rejected due to severe low self-worth.
Is preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social situations
Is inhibited in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacy

Views self as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others
Is unusually reluctant to take personal risks or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing
Avoidant personality disorder is often confused with antisocial personality disorder; clinically the term 'antisocial' denotes a disregard for society's norms and rules, not social inhibitions.''

Taken from Wikipedia and its relevant sources**

I believe this will also give most of you (like me) a more proper diagnosis than social anxiety will is a part but does not include the complexity of the problem.

[joey9]

Its important to be aware though that the psychiatric diagnostic criteria are used to diagnose very severe cases - i.e. cases where the individuals life is very severely affected by the traits described. I can definately relate to a lot of the factors on the list and they make me pretty anxious and frustrated but not to the point where I am unable to lead a relatively normal life.

[bba]

no i dont think i have this disorder. i dont care what people think of me, im just not interested in putting forth the effort to get to know anyone. if i click without effort with someone then fine, otherwise its not worth the effort.

[Finn3106]

This is exactly who I am. I have been struggling with this disorder practically all my life. When I was younger my two quotes were always "Are you mad at me" and "I am sorry". I always felt all eyes were on me not because I thought I was a great person, but because of all my flaws. I always felt I was one that did not care what others thought of me, but I guess I was wrong all along. But maybe what I cared about the most is what I thought about myself and that my social anxiety was because of me and not other people. I have good days and bad days, but lately I have been having difficulty with a wide range of anxiety and it has really put me in a major depression because of it.

[Robbed]

[Spot]

[Robbed]

Another problem I have with psychiatry is the use of symptom sets to define disorders. This creates such absurdities as 'comorbid depression and anxiety', as well as having 'depression, general anxiety, social anxiety, and OCD' all that the same time. Of course, after suffering with anxiety, I know better than this. For instance, obsessive thoughts and depression are just PART of the bigger picture of having anxiety disorders. NOT separate disorders. At least not in the sense that you might have a cold, ear infection, and athlete's foot all at the same time. Naming all the possible symptoms of anxiety disorder as separate disorders in and of themselves simply creates more fear and hopelessness.

[Reis]

Those behaviors are not a disorder, you are being tricked into thinking you have to live with this like it is some kind of disease or something. Its only a behavioral condition, and doctors really like to label behaviors as beinga disorder of some kind. The diagnosis of this "disorder" reflects what just about everyone else with social phobia has. You shouldnt attempt to compartmentalize yourself into a little subsection of what is basically the exact same anxiety condition that everyone else has. THIS is what will alienate you even further from actual proven treatments and recovery programs.

One of the problems with modern science, medicine and technology is that there are many many specialized feilds but none of them tie into eachother. Specialized feilds often get run aground because of the intense objective tunnel vision and the inability of the "experts" and "specialists" to see anything outside of their specialized boxes as being relevant to their feild of study. case in point, PSYCHOLOGY. This causes severe retardation of any progress that could be had.

Having a problem with self esteem is NOT a disorder and you are being lied to by people who believe that it is. I used to be terrifyed of leaving the house and felt inadequate when I was young and eventually i started having panic attacks in my twenties. I was on all kinds of pills and the doctors called me bipolar with anxiety and panic disorder. Again this is NOT a disorder and I was lied to, its a behavioral condition which can be treated and cured. Do not believe everything the academic white coats tell you, they are stunted by their own book worming and compulsive diagnostic behavior. Everything must be labeled and have a name, even if it is just a self esteem problem which can be absolutely corrected using the right tools. DISORDER? GIVE ME A BREAK! It just makes me a little angry when I read stuff like this, how people are being lied to so much to believe they are somehow "sick". UGH!

Check out my post called The Linden Method in the general discussion area. I go into great detail about what is really going on in the brain with these conditions and how to turn it around.

[davidd]

I do, but I think it's just very related to social phobia and agoraphobia! Just another issue to add to the list lol
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