Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD), or anxious personality disorder, is a cluster C personality disorder characterized by excessive social anxiety and inhibition, fear of intimacy (despite an intense desire for it), severe feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, and an overreliance on avoidance of feared stimuli (e.g., self-imposed social isolation) as a maladaptive coping method. [1]
An example of the fear-avoidance model, anxiety sensitivity stems from the fear that the symptoms of anxiety will lead to harmful social and physical effects. As a result, the individual delays the situation by avoiding any stimuli related to pain-inducing situations and activities, becoming restricted in normal daily function.
Stonewalling is a refusal to communicate or cooperate. Such behaviour occurs in situations such as marriage counselling , diplomatic negotiations , politics and legal cases. [ 1 ] Body language may indicate and reinforce this by avoiding contact and engagement with the other party. [ 2 ]
Stonewalling is an unhealthy communication pattern in which one partner refuses to engage during an argument. Experts weigh in why it happens and how to fix it.
The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance (e.g., an addictive substance, a medication) or another medical condition. The fear, anxiety, or avoidance is not better explained by the symptoms of another mental disorder, such as panic disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, or autism spectrum disorder.
It can also result from long-term (chronic) exposure to a severe stressor— [33] for example, soldiers who endure individual battles but cannot cope with continuous combat. Common symptoms include hypervigilance, flashbacks, avoidant behaviors, anxiety, anger, and depression. [34] In addition, individuals may experience sleep disturbances. [35]
Avoidance coping is measured via a self-reported questionnaire. Initially, the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ) was used, which is a 62-item questionnaire that assesses experiential avoidance, and thus avoidance coping, by measuring how many avoidant behaviors a person exhibits and how strongly they agree with each statement on a scale of 1–6. [1]
When designing an exposure hierarchy, therapists first conduct a thorough assessment of their client's fear with particular attention to the (a) feared object or situation, (b) feared consequences of confronting the object, (c) fear-related avoidance or safety behaviors, and (d) triggers and contexts of the fear. [3]