Avoidant Personality Disorder: Why You Feel Safer Alone

Are you constantly craving connection but terrified of rejection? Licensed therapist Kati Morton explains Avoidant Personality Disorder (AvPD), which goes beyond typical shyness or introversion and can keep you trapped in a cycle of loneliness and an intense fear of judgment.

We cover the symptoms of AvPD, how it overlaps with social anxiety and differs from avoidant attachment, why someone might want friends but avoid them, where it comes from, the role of negative cognitive bias, and therapies like CBT, exposure, and schema therapy.

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Chapters:

00:00 What is Avoidant Personality Disorder?

04:08 The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for AvPD

10:08 What makes AvPD a personality disorder rather than just a preference?

16:50 Social Anxiety vs. Avoidant Personality Disorder

23:56 Avoidant Personality Disorder vs. Avoidant Attachment

27:08 Why we automatically assume people won't like us