Skip to main content

Understanding Avoidant Personality Disorder (video)


#DrTraceyMarks #AvoidantPersonality #Rejection #Criticism #Anxiety

An essential feature of avoidant personality disorder is a pattern of being socially inhibited, feeling inadequate, and hypersensitive to rejection or criticism starting by early adulthood.

This pattern occurs pervasively which means it spreads across all areas of your life. So it’s not something you only noticed after being a bad relationship with someone who sucked your soul and tore you down emotionally. After a relationship like that, you will have some battle wounds that can look like feeling inadequate. Most of the personality disorders including this one really start to manifest around late adolescence and early adulthood. And with an avoidant personality disorder, you can get hints of social awkwardness and insecurity that seem excessive that the child doesn’t seem to grow out of. Here’s the criteria. You need 4 or more of the 7. 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. There is a lot of overlap between social anxiety disorder and avoidant personality disorder. However, with social anxiety, fear and anxiety is limited to social interactions. And you realize your fears are unreasonable at some level but you’re still anxious about it. And you can still have close personal relationships. With an avoidant personality, there’s a deep belief that there’s something wrong with you and because of that, you hyperfocus on subtle cues that people are rejecting or criticizing you. The threshold for seeing something as critical is very low. Meaning it doesn’t take much for you to feel insulted or hurt by someone’s remarks. Your reaction to this is to stay away and avoid dealing with people in any way you can. The treatment for this is cognitive therapy. There may be some behavioral exercises that a therapist can help set up for you, but generally, the approach is addressing your distorted beliefs about yourself.

Dr. Tracey Marks Videos mentioned Social Anxiety video https://youtu.be/QJuSm4R8N4E Cognitive distortions video https://youtu.be/QlDXDLA4qpc Challenge thoughts video https://youtu.be/hT3c4VDTLLo Disclaimer: All of the information on this channel is for educational purposes and not intended to be specific/personal medical advice from me to you. Watching the videos or getting answers to comments/question, does not establish a therapeutic relationship. If you have your own therapist, perhaps these videos can help prepare you for your discussion during your next session.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.

#MLK #Assassination #MartinLutherKingJr #Memorial  National Civil Rights Museum The Lorraine Motel where James Earl Ray assassinated King on April 4, 1968, is a complex of museums that trace the civil rights movement in the U.S. from the 17th century to the present. #MLK #MartinLutherKingJr #Memorial https://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/

A Brief History of Skittles - Taste the rainbow

#Candy #Skittles #TastetheRainbow The candy that we are so familiar with today first came into existence in 1974. Skittles spent the first five years of their lives solely in Britain since it wasn’t until 1979 that North America got a chance to taste  the  rainbow. There is much speculation surrounding the creator of Skittles, as nobody really knows exactly who first made them. One story suggests that a British man named Mr. Skittles looked at a rainbow one day and wondered how it would taste. Other sources state that the Wrigley Company, founded in 1891, created candy and other confectionery, including Extra chewing gum. However, although Wrigley produces Skittles today, it is widely accepted that an unknown British company was the original manufacturer. After three years of being imported to North America from the UK, Skittles started being manufactured in the US and Britain. There were very few flavors compared to the varieties available today. Consumers enjoyed gra...

Coping With Moods: The Challenge of the Turbulent Mind

#Mood #Impulses #selfregulate #selfsoothe  #Triple5LightTherapy #BlackMaleTherapist #Psychotherapy The power of moods and impulses can be overwhelming, but we can learn to self-regulate and self-soothe through awareness practices like meditation and mindfulness. By developing a healthy dialogue with our emotional nature, we can access deeper parts of ourselves and become more resilient in the face of stress and pressure. Rather than being swept away by our ever-shifting moods, we can learn to pause and reflect before acting. by Gillian McCann, Ph.D., and Gitte Bechsgaard, RP

4 Strategies for practicing Radical Self-Acceptance

Radical Self-Acceptance Painting by Jennifer Mazzucco #mindfulness #self-judgment #RadicalSelfAcceptance #negativethinkingpatterns #thoughts Radical acceptance involves acknowledging how life unfolds without resistance, even if we don't like things at any given moment. It can take effort to apply this principle. How can we begin to accept our situation and ourselves despite experiencing anxiety, uncertainty, and fear? Why self-acceptance is not the same as complacency. It is essential now, more than ever, to practice radical self-acceptance. This means training ourselves to find inner stability despite unpredictable external circumstances. Ultimately, we are responsible for acknowledging our hidden wounds, which can lead to personal and collective growth. Radical self-acceptance is the opposite of avoiding responsibility or giving up in self-defeat. It requires pushing against old ways of being to open the door to deep healing. Embracing radical self-acceptance allows us to int...