Personality
Mohamed Ahmed Abd El-Hay in Understanding Psychology for Medicine and Nursing, 2019
The key features of avoidant personality disorder are excessive and pervasive anxiety and discomfort in social situations and in intimate relationships, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to criticism. Although strongly desiring relationships, they avoid them because they fear being ridiculed, criticized, rejected, or humiliated. These fears reflect their low self-esteem and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation by others. As a result, they tend to avoid social or intimate settings, and are unwilling to become involved with others unless they are certain of being liked. They avoid occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact, because of fear of humiliating themselves or being criticized. There is a high co-occurrence of avoidant personality disorder with social phobia, as well as with a broad spectrum of other anxiety disorders. The avoidant behavior often starts in infancy or childhood with shyness, isolation, and fear of strangers or new situations. Patients with avoidant personality disorder may engage in deliberate self-harm (Klonsky, Oltmanns, & Turkheimer, 2003) and experience disability in social, educational, and physical fields (Kessler, 2003).
Clinical Theory and Skills EMIs
Michael Reilly, Bangaru Raju in Extended Matching Items for the MRCPsych Part 1, 2018
Antisocial personality disorder.Avoidant personality disorder.Borderline personality disorder.Histrionic personality disorder.Narcissistic personality disorder.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.Paranoid personality disorder.Schizoid personality disorder.Schizotypal personality disorder.
Other Personality Disorders
David F. O'Connell in Dual Disorders, 2014
The individual with avoidant personality disorder shows a pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, as indicated by four or more of the following (APA, 1994): Avoidance of occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejectionUnwillingness to get involved with people unless certain of being likedRestraint within intimate relationships because of fear of being shamed or ridiculedPreoccupation with being criticized or rejected in social situationsInhibition in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacyView of self as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to othersUnusual reluctance to take personal risks or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing
Hikikomori: psychopathology and differential diagnosis of a condition with epidemic diffusion
Published in International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice, 2021
Giovanni Martinotti, Chiara Vannini, Chiara Di Natale, Antonella Sociali, Gianfranco Stigliano, Rita Santacroce, Massimo di Giannantonio
Alexander Krieg and Jane R. Dickie hypothesise that the development of behaviour is determined not only by the attachment pattern in childhood, but also by the shy temperament of the child and, in adolescence, by difficulties in the relationship with peers. The same authors, comparing hikikomori with healthy controls, then strengthened this hypothesis (Krieg and Dickie 2013). These characteristics, together with some others, are in common with avoidant personality disorder and specially: shyness, ambivalent attachment styles and life experiences including rejection by peers and parents (Krieg and Dickie 2013), high loneliness and impaired social networks, apparent inability to maintain meaningful social ties (Teo et al. 2015a, 2015b), social withdrawal and avoidance of real-world human interactions, tendency towards indirect interpersonal exchanges via the Internet (Lee et al. 2013).
Mood Instability and Trait Anxiety as Distinct Components of Eysenckian Neuroticism With Differential Relations to Impulsivity and Risk Taking
Published in Journal of Personality Assessment, 2020
Evyn M. Peters, Rudy Bowen, Lloyd Balbuena
The results of Study 1 suggest that mood instability in the EPI was mostly responsible for the positive correlation between EPI neuroticism and lack of premeditation impulsivity. This is consistent with previous research showing associations between mood instability and impulsivity (Anestis et al., 2009; Maples et al., 2014; Peters et al., 2015). The other two factors were also correlated with impulsivity, although the correlations essentially disappeared when they were included in the same regression model as mood instability. The anxiety/tension factor clearly represents trait anxiety. The social sensitivity factor describes social inhibition, hypersensitivity to negative comments or evaluation, and low self-esteem, all of which are features of avoidant personality disorder and social anxiety disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013); although these items do not explicitly describe somatic features of anxiety in social situations (e.g., heart palpitations), they do suggest prominent social anxiety. Regardless of whether this factor is conceptualized as “trait anxiety” or subsumed within another construct (e.g., low self-esteem, insecurity), the results still support our first and second hypotheses.
Psychotherapy Termination Practices with Older Adults: Impact of Patient and Therapist Characteristics
Published in Clinical Gerontologist, 2018
Daniel J. Sullivan, Patricia Zeff, Richard A. Zweig
In regard to modifying termination practices with patients with personality disorders, recommendations are sparse. In the treatment of borderline personality disorder, Linehan (1993) recommends employing several approaches during the termination phase. Given the tumultuous interpersonal worlds of persons with borderline personality disorder, and the difficulty they often experience in ending treatment, Linehan recommends taking an active, deliberate approach to the termination phase. She suggests discussing termination well before the last session, tapering sessions, and clarifying the nature of the post treatment relationship (Linehan, 1993). Beck, Freeman, and Davis (2004) offer a variety of practice recommendations for ending therapy with patients with personality disorders. For instance, given that termination might be frightening for patients with dependent personality disorder, session frequency can be gradually tapered while also giving the patient the option to return to weekly sessions if they feel it necessary. For patients with avoidant personality disorder, the authors recommend creating a plan to continue self-therapy following termination and preparing for potential post-termination challenges.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Inferiority Complex
- Personality Disorder
- Social Anxiety
- Social Inhibition
- Fear of Intimacy
- Avoidance Coping
- Social Isolation
- Coping
- Fear of Negative Evaluation
- Social Rejection