Avoidant Personality Disorder – A Complete Overview

Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by the negative feelings of inadequacy and social ineptness with strong fear of being ridiculed by others due to these lacking factors. A person suffering from avoidant personality disorder feels that he is not able to move in his social circle because of having an unappealing personality with no specific personal skill or attraction to impress others rather his inabilities can make him humiliated and rejected by others easily. Such negative image of his own self makes him an avoidant personality with self imposed social inhibition and he starts living in the world of his own with extreme sense of self pity and self denial.                 

Such disturbed mental condition further causes oversensitive attitude towards criticism and eventually results in social cutoff. Avoidant personality disorder is reported to develop in adolescence and caused by continuous rejection from family members particularly from parents. Parent’s attitude, their appreciation, rejection and encouragement all factors play a vital role in developing the normal personality of a child. If there exists any negligence or rejection in their behavior it appears in the form of personality disorder in their children. The patient of avoidant personality disorder also shows an inferiority complex in his behavior and has low self esteem. These feelings make him self criticizing personality with a habit of blaming himself for those things in which others are actually responsible.   

For treating a patient of avoidant personality disorder various social group techniques are applied along with individual therapy to gain the trust of such patient upon others and particularly upon themselves. In some cases a patient of avoidant personality disorder shows mistrust about his mental health care specialist and takes no interest in his treatment which can further complicates the situation. Once such patient learns to trust his psychiatrist he becomes able to trust upon his own capabilities and positive personality aspects successfully. During both individual and group therapy such patient is trained to cope with his inner fears and to defeat his inferiority complex which is the only hindrance in the way of his normal personality development. In most of the cases of avoidant personality disorder such therapeutic techniques prove very much helpful in getting these patients back to their normal life activities with much better and harmonized social relationship.      

According to an estimate avoidant personality disorder prevails in 0.5% to 1% in general population and makes about 10% of all psychological cases treated in mental health clinics.