How to treat an Avoidant Personality Disorder? (Anxious Personality Disorder) - Doctor Explains

hey there welcome back to how to medicate and welcome to this new video on avoidant personality disorders how to treat them and how to possibly improve them this video is part on a video series on mental health problems

and for those of you wanting to keep on learning check out the playlist in the description after watching this video of course let me first introduce myself my name is raoul i'm a medical doctor from the netherlands and i'm making weekly

medical videos to educate myself as well as you my viewers because i believe that medically educated people make healthier decisions which is the whole point of this video and this entire channel

this video also comes with a quick disclaimer it's meant purely informative this is not medical advice and if you're looking for medical advice always ask your own doctor and quickly let's start learning

now as promised this video will discuss the best treatment options for an avoidant personality disorder but before we do so i thought it would be important to exactly discuss

what an avoidant personality disorder is now a avoidant personality disorder also called an anxious personality disorder is a group c personality disorder it is characterized

by severe social anxiety and avoidance of this fear patients with an avoidant personality disorder consider themselves to be unappealing and avoid social interaction for the

fear of being humiliated ridiculed or even rejected other symptoms might be a feeling of being inferior an extreme sensitivity for criticism fear of rejection and avoidance of

social interaction an avoidant personality disorder is quite common as it affects about 2.4 percent of the general population being equally common among men and women

it's still unclear how an avoidant personality disorder is caused however it is believed to be caused by a combination of factors biological ones like temperamental factors which are inherited

psychological factors like experiencing emotional neglect in childhood and or having anxiety disorders in childhood and social factors like peer group rejection lastly an avoidant

personality disorder can co-occur with other mental health problems a depression anxiety disorders other personality disorders most commonly a dependent personality

disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorders which brings us to the possible treatment options here i want to mention that one of the most important factors in the treatment

of an avoidant personality disorder is gaining a patient's trust as patients with an avoidant personality disorder will often start to avoid treatment sessions if they fear rejection or distrust their

therapist therefore a primary goal in the treatment of an avoidant personality disorder is for a patient to challenge his own exaggerated negative thoughts about himself

when done correctly treatment can achieve a significant improvement there are several treatment forms which might be effective in the treatment of an avoidant personality disorder

schema therapy cognitive behavioral therapy social skill training and psychotherapy some of these can be done individually but others are done in a group

this can gradually increase social context where social skills can be practiced first of all social skill training can help a patient to reduce the effects of

an avoidant personality disorder in its life then it might be no surprise that behavioral therapy focuses on the behavior of a patient and which difficult events out of normal

daily life or practice so a patient can learn how to cope with these events this can lead to new positive experiences next up in psychotherapy patients explore

unconscious factors behind their feelings of inferiority this can help to resolve conflicts from the past which might cause current problems in addition chemotherapy is aimed at

helping patients identify and understand patterns and coping mechanisms which they established from their early childhood to then modify these to change their behavior towards others

lastly there are no psychiatric drugs specifically approved in the treatment of an avoidant personality disorder however they can be used to treat co-current conditions

as an example a co-occurrent depression could be treated with antidepressants ultimately it's best to discuss all these treatment options which are treating physician or psychiatrists to discuss which ones

might be more suitable for you now i hope this video was helpful and i hope you know more now about the treatment of an avoidant personality disorder if you have any questions let me know in the comment section and for those of you

who want to keep on learning check out the playlist in the description or up there thank you all for watching if you did learn something please leave a like this will help out the channel tremendously and consider subscribing

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bye bye [Music] [Applause]