Medical

There is a good likelihood that AvPD is the extreme form of Social Phobia. If you have APD you will recognize many of the characteristics of Social Phobia/Social Anxiety in yourself.

A hallmark of both AvPD is Social phobia and Anxiety. However, Social Phobia does not always stem from the same conditions AVPD does. It can be more situational and less habit than what the condition of AVPD brings on.

Social Phobia can be treated a little more effectively than Avoidant Personality Disorder whereas AvPD is considered to affect people more intensely.

The following is a description of anxiety symptoms you may experience.

You know these symptoms very well if you have APD. You might also have experienced a panic attack though not all Avoidants have panic attacks.

There is sometimes an obsessive-compulsive component overlap to APD and social phobia. This is a description of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder. Also see OCD.

Dependency could be one the personality traits of a person with APD. An Avoidant may be very dependent on a spouse or a parent for financial help and needs of safety.

Many Avoidants have a difficult time holding jobs for extended periods.

This is a description of Dependent Personality Disorder.

If you have APD, you might also experienced one or more depressive episodes.

Some Agoraphobics also have Avpd but are confused as to what happened first, the Agoraphobia or the APD. The more anxiety an Avoidant has the more possibility of a panic epidsode occurring leading to Agoraphobia.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has also been seen and is an associated overlap in people who have AVPD. Some people have a history of trauma in childhood or in later life which created a strain on their nervous systems and led to the behavior of avoidance.

If PTSD and its' symptoms are not treated, mal-adaptive traits may become a part of the person in which they are left to cope.

Some Avoidants turn to drugs and alcohol to cope. Alcohol is used to get through anxious periods at work or whenever the person's feelings of ineptness or self loathing creates too much vulnerability.

The result is a psychological slump but the good news is that often Avoidants who are chemically addicted will seek help and find it and then move on to deal with the AVPD itself. Conversely, people who don't necessarily have AVPD can develop social anxiety or social phobia while drinking as the addictive disease progresses making the person pull away from familiar people and places they use to frequent.

Once again, when the addictions are addressed ~ the anxious and shameful feelings associated with their former loss of control are lessoned and the previously 'avoidance' behavior is usually no longer a factor.

This last text is written for this page. It contains information of the American system of classifying personality disorders, but Avoidants' all around the world will benefit from reading it: Avoidant Personality Disorder.

THE SECTION *NEW ARTICLES* HAS BEEN MOVED TO NEW ARTICLES PAGE (newly edited and revised!) and has been written for the Avoidant Personality Disorder pages.

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