Posted by Mitch on December 11, 2001, at 13:23:30
In reply to Re: Avoidance Personality Disorder, posted by Noa on December 9, 2001, at 13:33:21
> I think avoidant personality is an outgrowth of social phobia--that fear of saying the wrong thing or panicking makes us avoid such situations, and it becomes a pattern.
>
> I would think a combo of meds and therapy would help. I don't know if I qualify for apd, but I certainly have a lot of avoidant behaviors and patterns, and I have worked on this in therapy a lot, and it helps. I would try individual first--you have had some tries at group, and then backed out--maybe that is a signal you should respect.
>
> I get a lot out of therapy but don't think I could accomplish this much in therapy without medication. (I have depression, but have anxiety and do a lot of avoiding of anything that stirs up anxious or defeated feelings).I agree with Noa with regards to APD being an outgrowth of social phobia. I fulfill *all* of the DSM 'requirements'! What I wanted to add is..if you don't get any depression treated first (with meds), it will be tough for psychotherapy to do you much good. You have got to *want* to do the things that you are avoiding. Then you can work on the anxiety that is triggered by attempting to change avoidant behaviours. I am just *now* (for the first time!) feeling 'well enough' to really try and work on the avoidance with psychotherapy (CBT, whatever).
Mitch
poster:Mitch
thread:15119
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20011207/msgs/15346.html