Avoidant personality disorder (APD or AvPD) ^[1] or Anxious personality disorder (APD) ^[2], is a personality disorder 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, or disliked. They typically present themselves as loners and report feeling a sense of alienation from society. The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision (ICD-10) is a coding of diseases and signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World Health Organization (WHO). ... // F00-F99 - Mental and behavioural disorders (F00-F09) Organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders (F00) Dementia in Alzheimers disease (F01) Vascular dementia (F011) Multi-infarct dementia (F02) Dementia in other diseases classified elsewhere (F020) Dementia in Picks disease (F021) Dementia in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (F022) Dementia in Huntingtons... The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (most commonly known by the abbreviation ICD) provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or disease. ... The following is a list of codes for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. ... MedlinePlus (medlineplus. ... eMedicine is an online clinical medical knowledge base that was founded in 1996. ... Personality disorder, formerly referred to as a Characterological disorder is a class of mental disorders characterized by rigid and on-going patterns of thought and action. ... Pervasive Software is a maker of data infrastructure software. ... Social skills are skills a social animal uses to interact and communicate with others to assist status in the social structure and other motivations. ...

Avoidant personality disorder usually is 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. This page meets Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ...

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: Due to the epidemic of medical errors, readers are cautioned to be aware that the American Psychiatric Association isnt immune to this. ... The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, is the handbook used most often in diagnosing mental disorders in the United States and other countries. ...

1. Avoids occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact, because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection
2. Is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being liked
3. Shows restraint within intimate relationships because of the fear of being shamed or ridiculed or rejected
4. Is preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social situations
5. Is inhibited in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacy
6. Views self as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others
7. 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 'anti-social' denotes sociopathy, not social inhibitions. Antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a psychiatric condition characterized by an individuals common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others. ...

Mnemonic

A mnemonic that can be used to remember the criteria for avoidant personality disorder is AVOIDER.

• Avoids occupational activities
• Views self as socially inept
• Occupied with being criticized or rejected
• Inhibited in new interpersonal situations
• Declines to get involved with people
• Embarrassed by engaging in new activities
• Refrains from intimate relationships

Link with other mental disorders

Research suggests that people with avoidant personality disorder, in common with social phobics, excessively monitor their own internal reactions when they are involved in social interaction. However, unlike social phobics they also excessively monitor the reactions of the people with whom they are interacting. The extreme tension created by this monitoring may account for the hesitant speech and taciturnity of many people with avoidant personality disorder. They are so preoccupied with monitoring themselves and others that producing fluent speech is difficult. Social anxiety is an experience of fear, apprehension or worry regarding social situations and being evaluated by others. ...

Avoidant personality disorder is reported to be especially prevalent in people with anxiety disorders, although estimates of comorbidity vary widely due to differences in (among others) diagnostic instruments. Research suggests that approximately 10-50% of the people who have a panic disorder with agoraphobia have APD, as well as about 20-40% of the people who have a social phobia (social anxiety disorder). Some studies report prevalence rates of up to 45% among the people with a generalized anxiety disorder and up to 56% of the people with an obsessive-compulsive disorder (Van Velzen, 2002). Although it is not mentioned in the DSM-IV, earlier theorists have proposed a personality disorder which has a combination of features from borderline personality disorder and avoidant personality disorder, called "avoidant-borderline mixed personality" (APD/BPD) (Kantor, 1993, p.4). In medicine and in psychiatry, comorbidity is either The presence of one or more disorders (or diseases) in addition to a primary disease or disorder; or The effect of such additional disorders or diseases. ... Panic Disorder is a psychiatric condition characterized by recurring panic attacks in combination with significant behavioral change or at least a month of ongoing worry about the implications or concern about having other attacks. ... Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder which primarily consists of the fear of certain settings that may present unexpected challenges or demands. ... Social anxiety, sometimes known as social phobia or social anxiety disorder (SAD), is a common form of anxiety disorder that causes sufferers to experience intense anxiety in some or all of the social interactions and public events of everyday life. ... Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by excessive, uncontrollable and often irrational worry about everyday things, which is disproportionate to the actual source of worry. ... Borderline Personality Disorder (DSM-IV Personality Disorders 301. ...

Causes

The cause of avoidant personality disorder is not clearly defined, and may be influenced by a combination of social, genetic, and biological factors. The disorder may be related to temperamental factors that are inherited. Specifically, various anxiety disorders in childhood and adolescence have been associated with a temperament characterized by behavioral inhibition, including features of being shy, fearful, and withdrawn in new situations.^[3]

Many people diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder have had painful early experiences of chronic parental criticism and rejection. The need to bond with the rejecting parents makes the avoidant person hungry for relationships but their longing gradually develops into a defensive shell of self-protection against repeated parental criticisms.^[4]

Symptoms

People with avoidant personality disorder are preoccupied with their own shortcomings and form relationships with others only if they believe they will not be rejected. Loss and rejection are so painful that these individuals will choose to be lonely rather than risk trying to connect with others.

• Hypersensitivity to criticism or rejection
• Self-imposed social isolation
• Extreme shyness in social situations, though feels a strong desire for close relationships^[4]
• Avoid interpersonal relationships
• Feelings of inadequacy
• Low self-esteem
• Mistrust of others
• Extreme shyness/timidity
• Emotional distancing related to intimacy
• Highly self-conscious
• Self-critical about their problems relating to others
• Problems in occupational functioning
• Lonely self-perception
• Feeling inferior to others
• Chronic substance abuse/dependence^[5]
• Investment in fixed fantasies

A fixed fantasy is a belief or system of beliefs held by an individual to be genuine, but that cannot be verified in reality. ...

Treatment

Treatment of avoidant personality disorder can employ various techniques, such as social skills training, cognitive therapy, exposure treatment to gradually increase social contacts, group therapy for practicing social skills, and sometimes drug therapy (Comer, 1996). A key issue in treatment is gaining and keeping the patient's trust, since people with APD will often start to avoid treatment sessions if they distrust the therapist or fear rejection. The primary purpose of both individual therapy and social skills group training is for individuals with avoidant personality disorder to begin challenging their exaggeratedly negative beliefs about the self (Eckleberry, 2000). This page may meet Wikipedias criteria for speedy deletion. ... This article is about Becks Cognitive Therapy. ... Group therapy is a form of psychotherapy during which one or several therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. ... Pharmacology (in Greek: pharmakon (φάρμακον) meaning drug, and lego (λέγω) to tell (about)) is the study of how drugs interact with living organisms to produce a change in function. ...

See also

• Shyness
• Love-shyness
• Social anxiety
• Schizoid personality disorder
• Attachment theory
• Solitude
• Recluse
• Hermit
• Hikikomori

In humans, shyness is the feeling of apprehension or lack of confidence experienced in regard to social association with others, e. ... The term love-shyness is sometimes used to designate a specific type of severe chronic shyness. ... Social anxiety is an experience of fear, apprehension or worry regarding social situations and being evaluated by others. ... Schizoid personality disorder(SPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, and emotional coldness. ... Mother and child Attachment theory is a psychological, evolutionary and ethological theory that provides a descriptive and explanatory framework for discussion of interpersonal relationships between human beings. ... For other uses, see Solitude (disambiguation). ... For the town, see Recluse, Wyoming. ... For other uses, see Hermit (disambiguation). ... Hikikomori , lit. ...

References

1. ^ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
2. ^ International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems
3. ^ Avoidant Personality Disorder Causes, Frequency, Siblings and Mortality - Morbidity. Avoidant Personality Disorder. Armenian Medical Network (2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
4. ^ ^{a b} Avoidant personality disorder. Avoidant personality disorder. Healthline Networks (2003). Retrieved on 2006-02-26.
5. ^ Avoidant personality disorder. Avoidant personality disorder. Gordon College - Barnesville, GA (2003). Retrieved on 2006-02-26.

• Comer, R. J. (1996). Fundamentals of abnormal psychology. Avoidant personality disorder, pp.428-430. Third edition. New York: Worth.
• Eckleberry, Sharon C. (2000-03-25). Dual Diagnosis and the Avoidant Personality Disorder. The Dual Diagnosis Pages: From Our Desk. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
• Kantor, M. (1993, revised 2003). Distancing: A guide to avoidance and avoidant personality disorder. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers.
• Rettew, D.C. (2006). "Avoidant Personality Disorder: Boundaries of a Diagnosis", Psychiatric Times, July 1, 2006
• Van Velzen, C. J. M. (2002). Social phobia and personality disorders: Comorbidity and treatment issues. Groningen: University Library Groningen. (online version

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 84th day of the year (85th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Terry Jones' website about APD
• Avoidance-Dependence Syndrome
• An APD website that has information and online support