I'm wondering if I have Avoidant Personality Disorder...

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Depending on who I'm with, I either look like an outgoing kid with ADHD, but generally I prefer to be withdrawn into my own little world. I'm wondering if I have Avoidant Personality Disorder.

What doesn't make sense about this label of "avoidant personality" is that I only avoid people if I don't like their personality or if I'm just not in the mood. If I feel comfortable around a group of people though, then suddenly I'm very extroverted.

I'm confused

or maybe there is some undiagnosed autistic element involved, I don't know, I'm going to have lots of questions when I see my psychiatrist (for the first time) this coming Monday.

Good luck with your psychiatrist.

You've got me confused, too. Hopefully the doc can help you figure out things out.

Maybe I'll ask the doc if it's normal to avoid unfamiliar people or people I don't like... sounds like a better explanation.
Another suggestion I've thought of is "Highly Sensitive Person"... but I don't think it's that extreme for me though.

Update: I saw my psychiatrist and was prescribed ritalin and restoril. My insurance didn't cover for the ritalin and I had to pay about 30 dollars, but I didn't have money with me, so I just took the restoril...

....and the adventure to get treatment for adhd contines.... lol

With AvPD, you probably wouldn't even be on this forum. People with AvPD, generally don't even go to a psychiatrist, they literally avoid everyone and everything. It's not as simple as being in their own little world as preferred.

People with avoidant personality disorder are preoccupied with their own shortcomings and form relationships with others only if they believe they will not be rejected. Loss and rejection are so painful that these individuals will choose to be lonely rather than risk trying to connect with others.

Signs/symptoms:
Hypersensitivity to rejection/criticism
Self-imposed social isolation
Extreme shyness or anxiety in social situations, though the person feels a strong desire for close relationships
Avoids physical contact because it has been associated with an unpleasant or painful stimulus
Feelings of inadequacy
Severe low self-esteem
Self-loathing
Mistrust of others
Emotional distancing related to intimacy
Highly self-conscious
Self-critical about their problems relating to others
Problems in occupational functioning
Lonely self-perception, although others may find the relationship with them meaningful
Feeling inferior to others
In some more extreme cases — agoraphobia
Utilizes fantasy as a form of escapism and to interrupt painful thoughts

Personality Disorders have to be persistent, every day, every hour, every minute, 24/7. They don't come and go with your mood. I would bet you probably don't have AvPD, because you will join into groups if you feel in the mood to.

That sounds about right as far as symptoms go from what I've read....but I think the severity level does vary also based on a lot of what I've read and psychology class, so it might not be accurate to assume someone with this disorder would not post on the internet. I mean I certainly can't say I for sure have it, but a lot of those symptoms are disturbingly similar to me. I mean sometimes the desire for close relationships over-rules the anxiety...sometimes it doesn't. I mean I know I'd rather be lonely than around people that make me feel uncomfortable. I will get assessed eventually for what all is wrong with me and I won't be surprised if I got a diagnoses of that along with everything else.

Eating medicines won't sort out your problem.
You are just using your intuition to gauge which people are harmful for you
and which are good bet for you.
Even i do that and i avoid whoever i don't like usually my intuition about people
are right and it helps me survive well since anyway i am highly sensitive person.
any change in my external stimuli effects me badly

\\


You may just be an introvert, one who prefer to be by themselves, tends to be overwhelmed while in groups (people talking too much and too fast about oftentimes boring topics), although at the same time not being weird or stupid or one who hates people. You may not be psychologically distrubed after all. You just have to find the right niche in this world, your life will be much better, and then you can go around judging and criticizing others, as they have done to you.
Do you think your psychiatrist ventures much beyond his (or her) little world? Do you think he doesn't feel uncomfortable about people he isn't familiar with? Or makes an effort to be accepted by those who he knows are different, or even hostile to his view of the world? He spends all day in his own little professional niche, doesn't have to worrry about money, status, or where his next meal or rent payment will come from, and then proceeds to dispense his jugment on your mental state. An easy life, isn't it?

My sense is that a lot of the young people at WP,and some of the older ones as well, are dealing with the same issues that everyone does - isolation, alienation, rejection, loneliness, confusion, and all that bad (or just human) stuff. Anyone can suffer from it, although it's so much tougher if one has a core difference (such as a neurological deficit /condition) which makes it harder to fit in with the rest of the world. As the years go by, the bad experiences pile up , one keeps falling further and further behind in life, and then winds up in the situation that many WP'ers face every day.
Who wouldn't want to avoid people who are differerent or hostile? Loneliness can be difficult , of course, although preferable in many ways to banging ones head against the wall (speaking figuratively on that), trying to fit in with incompatible people, or trying to change ones core nature to be acceptable to the mainstream world. Do you think the shrinks don't feel the same issues as you do? They also feel alienated from the world, although, of course, it's a lot easier when one has money, status, and can settle into a comfortable niche in the world.

Thats all on how bad it is or how the persons life ended up.
for me i got avpd apparently idk for sure myself but they think they do.
i can go onto forums i can talk to people. but i am very very iffy on what i say and dont say im very scared of what reply's are going to be and if i did something wrong that will triger something bad.

Nope you don't i cant say for sure im no doctor but if you did you would feel very eh on everything you say and do.
it would take over your life and make you scared of judgment 24/7 or most of the day.

I think you have an unrealistic idea of how easy a psychiatrist's life is. If he's one of the bigwigs who get rich customers all the time, sure, but many psychiatrists don't make that much money. And depending on who their clients are, their job can be quite difficult.

I know my Mom's a lawyer, and she's nothing like those stereotypical rich corporate lawyers. She's a beginning lawyer who does family law. Makes a decent wage, but not enough for my Dad to quit his job, and she pours her heart out dealing with these people all day trying to find a solution to serve the best interests of the children involved. Very heartwrenching work sometimes.

You can't judge a profession on stereotypes.

My psychologist thought I had it but then denied it later on and diagnosed me with NVLD.

I'm always in my own little world as well and when I don't feel socializing with people, I shy away from them and keep to myself. It sounds like to me that what you're describing may be common but that's up to your psychiatrist.

I think canvendish's description of the socially isolated psychiatrist can help us to feel less powerless in front of the doctor. They are humans and they are not perfect.

But I tend to agree with Ettina here, that one should not judge a profession on stereotypes. I'm sure there are plenty of psychiatrists who like to feel rich and powerful. However, I would like to argue that the amount of effort required to become a psychiatrist seems to negate that incentive. A person can have power over others just by becoming their boss at the grocery store. And sure, psychiatrists get a comfortable amount of money. But the money to effort ratio in medicine or other helping professions is actually not that high. He or she can become richer with a lot less effort in the corporate world. And status? Well the status of psychiatrists in the community is probably not what it should be. There are a lot of 'anti-psychiatry' groups out there. Psychiatrists are rarely thanked for diagnosing schizophrenia and prescribing anti-psychotics. But if they weren't there, what then? Would we all have to undergo an exorcism at the hands of a zealous religious cult?

From personal experience - I'm a speech therapist, but I don't practice since the bipolar started. Maybe I'll go back, maybe not. I'd say the stress from my job helped to wake the sleeping giant of bipolar disorder. Vicarious traumatisation, massive caseloads, frustration with the system - was too much for my sensitive personality. With my academic grades I could have done anything but I wanted to help people. I could have been making a fortune by now. I don't regret the experience for a minute though. It's a privilige to be given the tools to help others, and then to be paid to do it. I think that's how most helping professionals feel about their job.

The paralells in in most cases way too big as you could really seperate NVLD and AS correctly.
So, I wouldn't bother to much with that question, when you know you have some NVLD tendencies, as well as AS tendencies.

Hey, I have AvPD and I'm on this forum. I suspect a lot of people with Asperger's develop Avoidant, especially if they're on the shallow end of the Autism pool. Combine a bit of differentness and impaired social instincts with enough social hunger and you're on your way.

DreamyRocky does not have AvPD though.