Social anxiety is the fear of social interaction with no apparent cause. AvPD, is holding a delusional belief that you're not woth socializing with.

The former is like a phobia, while the second is a persistent belief of unworthiness which has no clear cause.

They're both similar in the way that they interfere with the ability to socialize, and on the surface look very similar, but the underlying causes are quite different.

A person who lives with social anxiety might think: I don't think I want to go to the party because what if this thing or the other thing happens. I don't think I can deal with that.

A person who lives with AvPD is more likely to think: I don't think I want to go to the party because, I know people won't like me and that's tough to deal with, so I'm going to avoid that uncomfortable situation.

I have an AvPD diagnosis. I don't worry about social situations, I love people and when there's a social function of one sort or another, I genuinely want to go. But I end up avoiding them so I don't have to deal with the way my admittedy delusional thoughts and falsely held beleifs make me feel. At some level I know that those beliefs aren't true and that they are often shown to be without basis when I do have social interactions. But still they are present to the extent that avoiding a wide variety of social situations is sort of my signature move and my ability to socialize is seriously impacted.

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