Posted by Cindy W on August 4, 2000, at 22:30:21
In reply to Social anxiety vs. Avoidant personality disorder, posted by anita on August 4, 2000, at 13:23:52
> Hi all,
>
> I recently completed a survey on social anxiety for a non-profit group. Most of the questions were about, well, anxious feelings. However, a lot of my social phobia seems to be due to simply avoiding social situations because of a reluctance to interact with people, without feeling anxious about the prospect. Also, when with people I often feel quite numb and very bored, and can't think of anything to say or even want to say anything.
>
> So I'm wondering if Avoidant personality disorder, which is often equated with social anxiety or social phobia, is really a further step in the problem, perhaps due to the past chronic anxiety, sort of like a learned response, maybe. Interestingly, anti-anxiety meds do not help my social problems.
>
> Anybody have any thoughts?
>
> anita
Anita, i can relate...i have social phobia, or social anxiety, or avoidant personality...i'm not sure i quite understand how these relate to each other, except that social phobia/anxiety is amenable to cognitive behavior therapy while avoidant personality refers to enduring personality patterns that are resistant to change. i too am quite anxious around other people unless i know them really well, and tend to avoid being around people and prefer my own company when we're just not on the same wavelength about things (because then i can think of nothing to talk about)...do i say, hey, i like frogs; how's your depression and ocd; i just don't see any point in small talk, although i try it when i'm at parties (which is pretty rare!).
poster:Cindy W
thread:42160
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000729/msgs/42194.html