Avoidant Personality Disorder, A Simple Guide To The Disorder, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

This book describes Avoidant Personality Disorder, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

People with avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) have a life term pattern of extreme shyness.

Avoidant Personality Disorder (AVPD) is a mental health disorder featured by:
1. Avoidance of social interaction,
2. Sensitivity to rejection,
3. Feelings of inadequacy,
4. Extreme shyness, and
5. Feelings of inferiority.

They also feel insufficient and are hypersensitive to rejection.

AVPD can produce psychiatric symptoms that cause serious problems with relationships and work.

Avoidant Personality Disorder occasionally referred to as Anxious Personality Disorder, or Avoidant is under the category of Cluster C or Anxious based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV-TR), which is used to define mental health.

It is a mental health disorder that happens in infancy and becomes worse in adulthood.

These people may show extreme shyness and social withdrawal, feelings of anxiety, insecurity, and inferiority.

Genetic predisposition, infantile temperament, early childhood environment, and attachment style have all been suggested to play a role in the development of AVPD.

Genes and biological factor has an important part in transmitting the disorder but it is not understood clearly.

The inheritability coefficient for AVPD has been evaluated to be 0.64.

Infantile temperament traits linked with a greater diathesis for AVPD are:
1. Rigidity,
2. Hypersensitivity,
3. Low novelty seeking,
4. High harm avoidance, and
5. Overactive behavioral inhibition.

Doctors inform that the dynamic relationship between temperament and attachment can further aggravate the development of AVPD.

This experience presents as the already minimally expressive infant’s distress is met with indifferent responsiveness from the caregiver, exacerbating maladaptive behavior patterns.

These early interactions with caregivers result in fear of intimacy and trust, further engendering a state of hyper-vigilance.

Ultimately, these negative schemas precipitate in avoidant coping strategies to obviate perceived prospective distress.

Other pertinent factors are:
1. Minimal parental encouragement,
2. Caregiver guilt-engendering,
3. Neglect,
4. Abuse.

While the cause of Avoidance Personality Disorder is not known, it is believed that many patients have suffered from child abuse and neglect.

It is due of these that the patient does not trust people

The most frequent symptoms of AVPD are:
1. Avoidance
2. Dependence on those around them
3. Abandonment issues
4. Depression
5. Feeling of inferior to other
6. Severe low self esteem
7. Self-imposed social isolation
8. Severe shyness
9. Hypersensitivity to refection and criticism
10. Feelings of inadequacy
11. Reluctant to join new activity
12. Unwilling to involve with people
13. Reluctant to take personal risks
14. Mistrust of others

If the patient has AVPD, the patient might have problems interacting in social and work settings.

This is since the patient may fear any of these:
1. Rejection
2. Disapproval
3. Embarrassment
4. Criticism
5. Getting to know new people
6. Intimate relationships
7. Ridicule

Treatment such as cognitive behavioral therapy aims at changing the thoughts and behaviors and helps the patient to lead a more normal lifestyle.

The first things treated are:
1. Making eye contact
2. Greeting people
3. Smiling
4. Conversation
5. Being assertive
6. Proper responses in conversation

Avoidant personality disorder is treated with long term psychotherapy along with medicines and most important the willingness of the patient to remove this problem.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Avoidant Personality Disorder
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Introvert Personality
Chapter 8 Antisocial Personality
Epilogue