Is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of acceptance.Avoids occupational activities involving significant interpersonal contact, due to fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection. The person must exhibit at least four to meet the diagnostic threshold. Rogge and Kirkland (2014) list seven criteria for Avoidant Personality Disorder. In the case of APD, the person suffers from deep feelings of inadequacy and sensitivity to rejection that they tend to choose isolation rather than risk the pain of being negatively evaluated (Rettew, 2013). These disorders share common features of anxiety, fearfulness, and the internalization of distress. In the DSM-5, APD is included in the “Cluster C” personality disorders, along with Dependent Personality Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder. Symptoms of Avoidant Personality DisorderĪlthough the disorder was described in the early 1900’s, the term “Avoidant Personality Disorder” was not used until DSM-III in 1980. Among patients in outpatient psychiatric clinics, there is between 10% and 20% of that population affected by APD. The DSM-5 reports that APD affects approximately 2.4 percent of the population (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Some researchers have maintained that ADP is a more severe and generalized form of social phobia (Heimberg, 1996 Herbert, Hope, & Bellak, 1992). With repeated negative experience they develop a view of themself as being unlikable and defective and of others as being uncaring and likely to reject them. Individuals with ADP tend to have had experiences that serve to deflate their self-esteem through degradation, humiliation, or rejection. People with APD generally desire social connection, but are crippled by a sense of personal inadequacy and intense fears of social rejection (Sanislow, Bartolini, and Zoloth, 2012). DSM-5 Category: Personality Disorder IntroductionĪvoidant personality disorder (APD) is an enduring pattern of feelings of inadequacy, hypersensitivity to being negatively evaluated by others, and extreme shyness that begins by early adulthood and endures over time, is inflexible and present in a variety of situations, differs from an individual’s cultural norms, and results in significant distress or impairment in occupational, social, or other areas of functioning.
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