Most of you have Avoidant Personality Disorder?

[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]

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.

I personally don't think it is productive to sit there and wonder whether you have avoidant personality disorder or social anxiety disorder. The way I see it, neither psychology nor psychiatry are exact sciences. And it seems like, in many ways, they are more about trying to attach names to problems which will just make you feel like you have something that you are powerless to change. When I consider myself and look at the 'symptoms' listed above that I 'suffer' from, what I REALLY see is behavior that was learned as a result of growing up in a negative social environment, and without having learned the proper skills to deal with it. When this happens, you are just going to wonder why things seem to go so bad for you, but not for everyone else. And low self esteem, as well as a tendency to avoid social situations, is simply a natural result. In other words, everything listed above has simply become HABIT. NOT a psychiatric disorder that results from your brain being 'screwed up'. But rather, just automatic negative thoughts.

[Spot]

The way I see it, neither psychology nor psychiatry are exact sciences. And it seems like, in many ways, they are more about trying to attach names to problems which will just make you feel like you have something that you are powerless to change.

Bang On! This is the only grey area I have with psychiatry and the like. As it becomes more popular (or as they call it, diagnosed) it seems the greater amount of pills, labels and insecurity they can administer.

Commercialization of modern day psychiatry and other 3-letter related acrynoms have diminished to a somewhat credible social science with me. Read a diagnosis from ADD or learning disabiltiy form the 80s. Different than what exists today. How much is the societal shift used to control and instill fear amongst thinking types or is the mental health association gaining a truer understanding? One of the many things I consider in a day.

[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.

[Mosel]

I would be real careful about telling people what they have. Once you start labeling, you stop helping. I've done a fair amount of research on the internet and have read about anxieties, phobias, personality disorders, therapeutic approaches, etc... also. And at any given time I can read a definition of something and say to myself, oh my God, that's me. At any given time, it's anybody.

Calling a group of personality traits a disorder is a little much. However, these groups do exist and that's why they have names. People can and do pretty much fall in to any given psychological pattern at any time and describing a person as such is just a way of recognizing their condition at that pont in time. I think someone has to be behaving, or thinking certain ways, or both, for an extended period of time before one can say they have a disorder. To me, the definition of a disorder is the diagnosis of an incurable state of being, mental and/or physical. All that's left is to mitigate the symptoms of the disorder through medication and therapy, if needed.

The purpose here, I hope, is to help folks with their own determination of what's bothering them and why, and hopefully achieve some degree of resolution. I don't think the purpose is to label them as to who or what they are. Some people here are only momentarily experiencing anxiety, others have an anxiety disorder. You never tell a child they're stupid but you can saying their behaving stupidly.

And, if the way you are is neither hurting yourself nor anyone else, who gives a flying f.... what personality traits you have.

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