Essay On Avoidant Personality Disorder

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Avoidant personality disorder is very rare. It is only displayed in one per cent of the adult population. Personality disorders are a bit hard to diagnose. Since they are a life long pattern, someone has to identify the pattern and then convince the person to see someone about the pattern. That is the only way that diagnosis takes place.

By definition avoidant personality disorder is "a personality disorder characterized by hypersensitivity to potential or actual rejection and criticism, a strong need for uncritical acceptance, social withdrawal in spite of a desire for affection and acceptance and low self-esteem."

Let's begin by examining the symptoms that show up in childhood.
*extreme shyness
*unreasonable fear of new situations (even …show more content…

Since the patient has a distorted view of self, things like support groups are not an option until other forms of therapy have been successful. In other words, this is not something they can just fix themselves.

Treatment begins with cognitive therapy. This a specific form of psychotherapy. It is based on the cognitive structure of experience that determines how an individual behaves and feels. This type of therapy focuses on verbal and behavior techniques. The goal is to identify and correct negative thinking, which will then correct behavior.

There are some anti-anxiety medications that may be used with the cognitive therapy. There are high degree of warnings that the medication can mask symptoms and the problems come back as soon as the patient cuts back on medication. These drugs should be closely monitored and not over

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