How is avoidant personality disorder diagnosed?
Personality continues to evolve throughout child and adolescent development. Because of this, healthcare providers don’t typically diagnose someone with avoidant personality disorder until after the age of 18. Providers need evidence that these patterns of behavior are enduring and inflexible and don’t fade with time.
Personality disorders, including avoidant personality disorder, can be difficult to diagnose. This is because most people with one don’t think there’s a problem with their behavior or way of thinking.
When they do seek help, it’s often due to conditions such as anxiety or depression from the problems created by their personality disorder, like isolation or a lack of friends.
When a mental health professional, such as a psychologist or psychiatrist, suspects someone might have avoidant personality disorder, they often ask broad, general questions that won’t create an environment that the person might think of as critical or embarrassing. They ask questions that will shed light on:
- Past history.
- Relationships.
- Previous work history.
- Reality testing.
A person suspected of having avoidant personality disorder may lack insight into their behaviors and thought patterns. So, mental health professionals often work with the person’s family and friends to collect more information about their behaviors and history.
Mental health providers base a diagnosis of avoidant personality disorder on the criteria for the condition in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
Diagnostic criteria for avoidant personality disorder involve a persistent pattern of at least four of the following behaviors:
- Avoiding job-related activities that involve working with others because they fear others will criticize or reject them.
- Being unwilling to get involved with others unless they’re sure others will like them.
- Being passive or reserved in close relationships because they fear ridicule or humiliation.
- Extreme worry about others criticizing or rejecting them in regular social situations.
- Feeling self-conscious in new social situations because they feel inadequate.
- Assessing themselves as socially unskilled, unappealing or inferior to others.
- Being reluctant to take personal risks or try new activities because they may feel embarrassed.
