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Thursday, July 14, 2016

Avoidant Personality Disorder

What is Avoidant Personality Disorder or AvPD? AvPD is a mood disorder that can be briefly summed up as someone who has a severe social anxiety; a shy person, someone scared of rejection, fearful of ridicule and causing herself/ himself embarrassment, lacking in confidence and who may feel inferior to others.

The way it affects everyday life is it makes you avoid social situations in an attempt to avoid feelings of rejection, this may extend to avoiding people in general. These people may be introverted and withdrawn when around others. These behaviours can make it hard to build friendships and then keep them. Because of the need to feel liked by others before you will interact with them or join in with an activity it can greatly affect relationships, recreation and careers. Things like a workplace meeting, joining a sports team, going out with a friend who's bringing someone else with them, asking for advice from a store assistant...

Imagine thinking about criticisms that you may get in advance and feeling overwhelmed by thoughts of what people think about you and that you may do something embarrassing or be ridiculed. Even though people with AvPD can feel distressed by other people's judgements it does not mean they don't want to be around others or try new things or start a relationship, it just means the thought of this can be intimidating and overwhelming.

Much love,
Becky xx

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was diagnosed with AvPD in early December 2018 and it answered so many questions. I’ve been debilitating shy my whole life. They called is social phobia in my 30’s and early 40’s. I now have debilitating anxiety and depression. I am not on facebook because of my mental illness. I think I would like to hear / read other stories of people with AvPD so I know that I am not the only person on Earth like this. Are there blogs to read? Somewhere other than facebook? Thank you so much, Amy Hoggard. ( hazydaisy01@yahoo.com )

Mathew Smith said...

Hey!! Thanks for the post. I am also a victim of AvPD. It all started two years back. But in last I mate a Counsellor In Fulham, the counselling sessions given by him were so effective.