Avoidant Personality Disorder (AVPD)
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Avoidant Personality Disorder, or AVPD, is a difficult disorder to deal with. It’s like being a ghost. Walking without footprints, speaking without sound—it’s like having a life that is not lived, constantly in fear, and you can’t just snap out of it.
You may feel trapped in an unlocked cage. A person with AVPD might be very shy; they might fear others, and they are more sensitive towards potential rejection from others.
What Causes Avoidant Personality Disorder?
Avoidant personality disorder does not have a clear single cause. Here are the avoidant personality disorder causes:
- Biogenic factors: Any hereditary or genetic factors in your family history.
- Temperament as a Child: The patient temperament is like a child's. This can be a causal factor, so kids who were hypersensitive, had rigidity, had a rigid outlook on life, or had a high level of harm avoidance are more likely to have an avoidant personality disorder.
- Early childhood experiences: Past experiences of a child may lead to or increase the risk of this condition. Experiences like poor parental guidance during childhood. Neglect, abuse, and poor attachment with parents can increase the risk of getting this condition as well.
What Are the Symptoms of Avoidant Personality Disorder?
Patients with avoidant personality disorder have feelings of inadequacy, a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, and are hypersensitive to a negative evaluation. These are present in a variety of contexts, beginning in early adulthood. The symptoms of avoidant personality disorder are as follows:
- Avoids occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection.
- Unwilling to get involved with people unless you're certain of being liked.
- Shows restraint within intimate relationships because of fear of being shamed or ridiculed.
- Preoccupied with being criticised or rejected in social situations.
- Inhibited in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacy.
- Views himself or herself as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others.
- Unusually reluctant to take personal risks or to engage in any new activities.
How Do I Diagnose Avoidant Personality Disorder?
Most people are diagnosed with AVPD when they are 18 or older to ensure that their personality has fully developed. To diagnose AVPD in someone under 18, they must have had symptoms that fit the criteria for at least one year, according to the DSM-5.
A doctor or a mental health provider might be the first person to spot a personality disorder. There aren't any lab tests for personality disorders, but a doctor can check your body and do tests to make sure another illness isn't causing the same symptoms seen in people with AVPD.
Mental health experts don’t have a specific test for avoidant personality disorder (AVPD). To diagnose someone with AVPD, they need to check if the person meets at least four of the criteria listed in the DSM-5. They also need to consider the person’s long-term history of symptoms and behaviour patterns.
What Is the Treatment for Avoidant Personality Disorder?
Several treatment forms might be effective in the treatment of an avoidant personality disorder. The treatments for this are:
Psychotherapy: This contributes to patients seeking other reasons that have not been identified for those feelings of inferiority. The past issues can be solved now through talking with a therapist in psychotherapy.
Cognitive therapy: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is useful because it assists individuals in recognising their thoughts and their negative perceptions about themselves. By becoming aware of these thoughts and beliefs, they are able to learn how to combat them. A therapist would recommend some exercises anyway, but the work would be mainly aimed at replacing the detrimental self-esteem with the right opinion about oneself.
Medications: Currently, there are no medicines officially allowed for treating avoidant personality disorder. If someone has co-occurring problems like depression or anxiety, doctors might prescribe medicine to help with those issues. For instance, antidepressant medicine can help improve your emotional state, decrease feelings of sadness, lessen anxiety, and might help minimise the feelings one gets from rejection.
How to Cope With an Avoidant Personality Disorder?
Dealing with avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) usually requires a combination of taking care of yourself and having support from others, like:
Stress Management and Self-Care: Taking care of yourself is important for dealing with AVPD. Taking part in activities that would put you in a happy state and discourage stress, such as reading, jogging, painting, or yoga, all help ease stress on the human body and mind.
Supportive networks: Creating a group of caring and understanding people can be very helpful. Family, friends, or support groups offer a safe place to talk about what you’ve been through, get support, and find helpful tips.
Take small, easy steps to face your social fears. This is important for dealing with AVPD. Setting achievable goals and slowly facing situations that make you anxious can help you feel more confident and stronger. Celebrating accomplishments, even the small ones, helps us see how far we've come and motivates us to keep getting better.