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Avoidant Personality Disorder

Bobby displays symptoms of avoidant personality disorder including avoiding social situations where he may be criticized, being unwilling to get involved with others unless he is sure they will like him, and being preoccupied with the possibility of being criticized or rejected. He prefers online gaming to playing sports outside where he may fail and become unpopular. In new situations, he takes very conservative choices to avoid embarrassment. Group therapy can help assess low self-esteem and identify avoidant behaviors while solving specific problems. Medication may help with associated conditions but not the disorder itself. Interpersonal therapy, where the therapist gains trust before challenging avoidant behaviors, is an effective treatment.

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Dylan Liu
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270 views1 page

Avoidant Personality Disorder

Bobby displays symptoms of avoidant personality disorder including avoiding social situations where he may be criticized, being unwilling to get involved with others unless he is sure they will like him, and being preoccupied with the possibility of being criticized or rejected. He prefers online gaming to playing sports outside where he may fail and become unpopular. In new situations, he takes very conservative choices to avoid embarrassment. Group therapy can help assess low self-esteem and identify avoidant behaviors while solving specific problems. Medication may help with associated conditions but not the disorder itself. Interpersonal therapy, where the therapist gains trust before challenging avoidant behaviors, is an effective treatment.

Uploaded by

Dylan Liu
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Avoidant Personality Disorder Axis II Personality Disorders: Cluster C Diagnostic Code: 301.

82 Symptoms A pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following: (1) avoids occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact, because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection (2) is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being liked (3) shows restraint within intimate relationships because of the fear of being shamed or ridiculed (4) is preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social situations (5) is inhibited in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacy (6) views self as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others (7) is unusually reluctant to take personal risks or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing Bobby always kept to his small group of friends that he had grown up with and was comfortable with. But when placed with a group of new people, he wont talk or speak or interact in any way because he automatically assumes they will not like him. He often plays online games rather than going outside to play sports so that he is not criticized for not playing well resulting in unpopularity. When dealing with situations, he will take the most conservative choice so that he does not risk any embarrassment or failure. During presentations, he gets very nervous because he believes everyone is better than him at it and will laugh and criticize the way he presents his own project. Treatments Group therapy to assess why the individual has low self esteem, to observe when an individual is withholding information, and to identify nonverbal cues. Therapy should be short and will most likely not result in high self esteem. It is most effective in solving specific life problems that will help with the disorder. Additional help may be given if needed. Effectiveness: 6/10 Medication, such as antidepressants can sometimes be used but only if carefully diagnosed. It should only be used when there is a clear Axis I association with the disorder. Effectiveness: 4/10 Interpersonal Therapy can be used. A therapist gains the trust and comfort of a patient by being sympathetic and supportive of the patient, supporting a more assertive behavior, and then once comfortable, ceases to be sympathetic and becomes unsupportive of the avoidant behavior. Effectiveness: 8/10

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