Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD)

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in avoidant personality disorder, persons manifest an extreme fear of negative judgment on them by other people. The author points out that, while manifestations in children are considered isolated symptoms and not a full disorder, APD is a disorder identified for adults; however, there is some linkage in the literature between childhood actions and behaviors and the development of the full disorder in adulthood. The paper relates that psychotherapy is the treatment of choice, usually individual treatment but with some use of group therapy to help patients learn to relate to others.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Features
Childhood Indicators
Treatment
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Treatment of the avoidant patient has been characterized as having certain pitfalls to be avoided. Appelibaum, Kernberg, Koenigsberg, Stone, and Yeomans (2000) cite other researchers to the effect that the therapist of the avoidant patient may sometimes adopt a compensatorily overzealous stance which is likened to that of the mother trying to engage the avoidant toddler: "The intense tracking attendant on such a stance heightens the risk of dyadic misregulation because it lessens the focus on internal states of self and other. The avoidant patient may consequently experience the therapist as 'intrusive, shadowing or suffocating' . . . even while also welcoming the therapist's persistence in making emotional contact.""

More papers on Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD):

• Essay # 54085 : "Avoidant Personality Disorder"
• Essay # 17054 : "Antisocial Personality Disorder"
• Research Paper # 113682 : "Antisocial Personality Disorder"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: