Avoidant Personality Disorder

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Well I guess this could be my last post here.

Ive been talking to an expert about this and according to him i probably dont have AS, i just have 'Avoidant Personality'. It always bothered me that I fit so many of the 'minor' AS traits but none of the major ones (theory of mind, sensory issues, repetitive behaviours). After reading about AvPD, i realised it fits me perfectly without the need for AS. What i found interesting is theres a lot of similar traits or symptoms between AvPD and AS, yet the difference lies in the reasons behind these. for example. With AS you have more trouble reading people, but with AvPD you read people way too well and read too much into things causing almost paranoia about what they are thinking. The result is often the same with things like anxiety or awkwardness.

Why am i posting this? I know theres people here who arent sure if they have AS or not. For you guys, check out AvPD and see what you think. Id say if someone has an Avoidant Personality, then a misdiagnosis of AS can be devastating, as it will only enforce their negative thoughts about themselves socially, thoughts that may not be true. And because "the symptoms of AS differ greatly between subjects", it is a disorder that is completely impossible to disprove once its been given. I know cos Ive tried it!

Peace
-JD

What surprises me is that you learned about Asperger's before learning about Avoidant Personality Disorder. Personality disorders are diagnosed willy-nilly, often without proper evidence, and are studied in psychology classes far more than autism spectrum disorders. If you're studying psychology, you may touch on autism a day or two in a developmental psych class, but you'll study personality disorders at every turn.

I had the exact opposite experience that you had.. I thought that I probably had a personality disorder, and went about treatment as though I did. With the encouragement of therapists, I assumed that if I didn't know why someone seemed upset, it probably didn't have anything to do with me, put self-doubts into the back of my mind, acted confident, attempted to have stable relationships, thinking that doing all that would make me normal, would turn me into a healthy person.. but it didn't. The problem was that I did do plenty of things that pissed people off without realizing it, and just because I don't know why somebody is upset doesn't mean that it's not because of me. I don't know how to properly relate to people, and just letting go of my anxiety isn't going to make me able to relate to other people, because it's more than just that. etc. So in the end, it all blew up in my face.

This may be a male/female issue.. that the same symptoms that are diagnosed as AS in male will be diagnosed as a personality disorder in a female, and treated accordingly, so it may be that guys would learn about AS before learning about personality disorders that would explain the same symptoms. But in general, by the time a girl starts studying AS and thinking that she's likely to have it, it will be because she's already examined the possibility of her problems being caused by a personality disorder, and found that explanation lacking.

Dude, look. I fit AS, schizoid, aviodant personality disorder...you understand what I'm saying here? I technically fit many different diagnoses very very well. Having an exact diagnosis isn't important. You are just going to drive yourself crazy with all that, I know I did. The more important question is, "Do you know who you are?" If you can answer that, then it doesn't matter what your diagnosis is. As long as you like who you are, that's all that matters. There is my two cents, although I only get paid a penny for my thoughts. Man, I'm losing money on this site...

As always things are murky in the psych* world... Gillberg seems to be saying you can have both, but that it's mostly of matter of how useful that is.

I just recently identified AvPD in myself, though I have never been diagnosed with it, and found a perfect fit there. When I was 14, in Child Protective Custody back in 1974, I was diagnosed Schizoid and Schizotypal which I hear is also a misdiagnosis for kids with autism.

I remember reading somewhere that when a Russian scientist described Schizoid personality disorder in 1909 it was actually the first observation of what was really Asperger's Syndrome. Her observations were that it was a personality problem, while Hans Asperger may have observed the same thing but thought of it as a developmental disorder.

I just have a problem with the whole personality disorder because that's considered a mental illness and I feel my problems in this area are more along the lines of physiological or neurologically based with regard to my own personal symptoms. So to me it isn't a mental illness, with autism, but a physiological or neurological one.

I also fit the profile for Avoidant and Schizoid Personality Disorder, but I was that way at two years of age.

With me the symptoms were evident from the day I was born starting with my inability or instinct to effectively nurse.