mental health disorders
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Introduction
Avoidant personality disorder is a mental health condition that is characterized by avoiding social situations or interactions that involve risk of rejection, criticism, or humiliation. People with avoidant personality disorder are afraid of being rejected, criticized, or embarrassed and thus avoid situations where they may experience such reactions. Doctors diagnose avoidant personality disorder based on specific symptoms, such as avoiding situations that involve interpersonal contact because of fear of rejection and disapproval or feelings of being socially incompetent, unappealing, or inferior to others. People with this disorder may benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, other psychotherapies, and antianxiety medications and antidepressants. Overview of Personality Disorders are mental health conditions that involve long-lasting, pervasive patterns of thinking, perceiving, reacting, and relating that cause the person significant distress and/or impair the person's ability to function. People with avoidant personality disorder feel inadequate. They manage these feelings by avoiding situations in which they may be evaluated negatively. Avoidant personality disorder occurs in a little over 2% of people in the United States. It affects women slightly more often than men. Other disordersare also often present. They include one or more of the following: Major depressive disorder or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) None An Overview of Anxiety Disorders , such as panic disorder, particularly Another personality disorder (such as Dependent Personality Disorder or People who have social phobia and avoidant personality disorder have more severe symptoms and are more disabled than those who have only one of the disorders. 