Avoidant personality disorder, anyone else dealing with this?

Mental health
1

Hi guys,

I've just been diagnosed with depression/anxiety which I believe are conditions that have stemmed from dealing with having avoidant personality disorder for most of my adult life, but mainly in the last 3-4 years. Does anyone else suffer from this condition? Any helpful coping mechanisms? 

Kay

2

Hi Kayla, I also suffer from anxiety/depression and would be interested to know more about Avoidant Personality Disorder, as the symptoms I’ve read sound exactly like me. As for your anxiety and depression, there are a lot of treatments available. Have you been prescribed any medication for it? 

3

Hi there!

I have just recently started taking sertraline for anxiety/depression, still in the first week and feeling pretty awful on it, not unbearable but definitely fatigued, headaches, insomnia, a lot of the side effects on the list I have so hoping they pass soon! At this point I am self diagnosed avoidant but am seeing a psych in the next few weeks to get a second opinion, basically as it stands for me avoidant personality means I very rarely try new things out of fear of being embarrassed or judged, I have 3 super close friends since I was maybe 14 years old and have really struggled to make any new friends through the rest of my life (now 28) even to see these close friends gives me anxiety and it normally takes me an hour or so in there presence to start to feel relaxed. I've recently started to feel shy and anxious around my own family members, this is very frustrating for my partner as he loves to hang out with his friends etc and I will literally make up every excuse under the sun not to go with him, whether it be a dinner/wedding etc I'll obsess over having the right outfit. What I'm going to say, who I'm going to talk to there etc, I'm yet to find any helpful coping mechanisms other than not going which always gives me enormous relief once I know I've been able to get out of something! Hoping psych can give me some insight I'll let you know how it goes with her 

4

Thanks Kayla, does sound like me. I try to avoid social situations aswell and also can get anxious about family events. As for the sertraline, I got on well with it and my doctor always said in the first couple of weeks you could feel worse before you start to feel better so stick with it. The only reason I no longer take it is that I was on it for years and the effects started to wear off. Give it a bit longer and hopefully you’ll start to feel better.