What types of therapy are recommended for AvPD?

cognitive therapy and psychodynamics were of little help to me (actually, I think their ineffectiveness hurt me). has anyone had success with gestault or dialectical behavior therapy?

Group therapy might help? http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx8t.htm

I don't know what is recommended but I am kinda shy too and I know CBT is in vogue for treating that. My best guess would be any kind of 1-on-1 therapy that does not primarily focus on the past, with an EXPERIENCED therapist and then group.

integrative

My counsellor told me I am playing the victim in life. So how do I stop it? If one's reaction is to think in that manner....is it really just changing your thinking? it sounds easier than it feels. If I am feeling victimized....I cannot just suddenly change my thoughts and be happy. How does one start to change?

I was admitted into a partial hospitalization program (PHP) at my city's public psychiatric hospital. It was a 7 to 8 hour per day program that met 4 or 5 days per week. I was amongst about 12 to 15 peers.

I think part of AvPD is extreme discomfort in the face of criticism/rejection. (If you look it up, the textbooks will say something along those lines.) Well, I faced my share of criticism from the staff AND from my peers. It was extremely painful, at times. It seems I had a need to see myself as never being in the wrong, and I tried very hard to make that true. I always got "A" in behavior in grammar school.

Well, as with all human beings - forgive the vernacular - my poop does stink at times. For the first time in my life, I got told that. My PEERS were actually more effective than the staff at calling me on my antics. Despite being an extraordinarily defensive person, I eventually saw that they had a point, now and then.

Now here is the wonderful part: And, again, it was my peers, more than the staff, that helped me through the pain. I learned that

#1 I have some very off putting personality traits.

#2 Despite the above truth, I am a person who can be cared about, and considered a person of worth. I can even be regarded with affection and warmth IF . . . IF I can let go of the need to never be told that I may be out of line.

When I started to see that my peers saw faults in me, it was devastating to my ego. Thank God, He did not make me so fragile that I couldn't even consider that, maybe, they had a point. I started to lighten up. I apologized to some peers with whom I had been a bit too overly self-righteous. And, then, A MIRACLE HAPPENED. They were kind to me. They praised me for my improvement.

PHP put me back in the "school yard playground" - with PEERS. However, I couldn't go to the periphery, sit down and lean against the fence and be in my own world.

I'm grateful that the staff didn't molly cuddle me. I am hugely grateful that my peers were able to reject some of my behaviors and attitudes, but still be willing to embrace me for the good that is in me.

AvPD is hugely painful. The psychic dynamics underlying my problem may be much different from those driving the disorder in any of you above. What helped me might not be best for you, but I don't see how anyone could fail to be helped by this.

Your therapist in that private room with the door shut is probably going to try very hard to never make you feel rejected. So how in the heck is that going to help a person with AvPD learn to endure rejection and also learn that it's not the end of the world.

Warning: I was once briefly in a group therapy situation where peers were allowed to be really insulting and abusive to each other. If the moderators can't control that, get the heck out of there.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/per...2/METHOD=print

Rose, reading your post I saw a lot of myself. I'm just learning in some situations to allow myself to be corrected. Its still extremely embarrassing for me to be wrong.

Its actually liberating in a way to let go of having to be right and be perfect all of the time. I know some people will reject me and there will probably be some people that use my vulnerability against me, but when I have let my guard down it has been extremely rare that that happens.

I apologize OP for not responding to your question, its just that Roses post hit me like a ton of bricks

I did try taking dialectical behavior therapy. Well, the truth is I barely put my toe in the water, so to speak. This thing about being still and thinking of nothing but my breathing made me so uncomfortable, I wouldn't go back.

Anyone ever try benzedrene or dexedrene?? I used to get it from friends in the 80s, helped me feel sociable. I have asked for prescriptions for this with several different psychologists and they all say, "that's an amphetimine!!!" "That's addicting!!!" However, I have the will power to take it only sporadically, anyone ever try this???