Posted by JohnKeats on December 10, 2005, at 3:42:54
In reply to benzos and personality disorders, posted by cecilia on December 10, 2005, at 2:34:49
> Re: benzos being contraindicated in personality disorders-personally, I've never figured out the difference between avoidant personality disorder and severe social anxiety disorder. The same patient could go to 2 different doctors and get totally different treatments on the whim of a label. Cecilia
I never heard the term AvPD until a few years ago. I don't know if practically you can distinguish AvPD from severe social anxiety. AvPD is even defined as severe persistent social anxiety. My best guess would be that with phobias, the fear only grips you when you are in the particular circumstances. In personality disorders your whole life becomes oriented around the fear. In AvPD, avoiding social contact becomes a way of life. The fear doesn't manifest itself in a acute attack, it's just there constantly under the surface. In my case my fear has gotten so morbid I now desperately fear showing my fear to others. I think that people see me as weak and awkward. I could go on and on, but yeah I think there is a difference. AvPD kicks in when the fear becomes very morbid and neurotic. But its true that most doctors would probably have a hard time diagnosing it.
Check this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoidant_personality_disorder
poster:JohnKeats
thread:586809
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051203/msgs/587703.html