Avoidant Personality Disorder | Comprehensive Review

This video answers the questions: What is avoidant personality disorder? Can I provide a comprehensive review of avoidant personality disorder including the definition, history, comorbidity, etiology, and treatment?

Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and being hypersensitive to negative evaluation. Individuals with this disorder view themselves as unwanted and isolated from other people.

Avoidant personality disorder is categorized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) as a Cluster C Personality Disorder. It has seven symptom criteria. Four or more are required for diagnosis.
1. avoids jobs that involve a lot of contact with people
2. doesn’t want to deal with people unless they can be certain that they be liked
3. moves very slowly in romantic relationships
4. preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social situations
5. inhibited in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacy
6. views oneself as socially inept, personally unappealing, and inferior to others
7. due to fears of embarrassment, is reluctant to take personal risks

Weinbrecht, A., Schulze, L., Boettcher, J., & Renneberg, B. (2016). Avoidant Personality Disorder: a Current Review. Current Psychiatry Reports, 18(3), 29.

Solomonov, N., Kuprian, N., Zilcha-Mano, S., Muran, J. C., & Barber, J. P. (2020, January 16).Comparing the Interpersonal Profiles of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder and AvoidantPersonality Disorder: Are There Homogeneous Profiles or Interpersonal Subtypes?. PersonalityDisorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment. Advance online publication.

KAROLINSKY, L. (2019). Mother’s Parenting Style and Its Impact on the Development of Avoidant Personality Disorder among Israeli Children. Social Research Reports, 11(2), 9–19.



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