[Hayden29]

Hi. I was wondering if anyone has an idea of what might be the cause(s) of avoidant personality disorder? I believe I have had this disorder since childhood; it got worse in young adulthood. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I think one cause (although I think there are several causes for each person, not just one cause) is rejection/humiliation by peers and/or family. The constant rejection and humiliation (whether real or perceived) as a young child makes you expect and fear the same thing to happen to an extent that you can't take chances that may lead to rejection because you just can't take a risk if there's any chance of rejection.

The funny thing is, different doctors disagree on whether I have avoidant personality disorder or not...I have most of the symptoms, but since I'm "high functioning", I guess it's difficult for doctors to see that it does actually effect my quality of life. Yes, I can still interact with people...but I'm incapable of dating or really going after what I want career wise and I'm going to have a difficult time getting ANY kind of job because of the fear of rejection.