Posted by gardenergirl on December 10, 2005, at 11:17:43
In reply to Re: benzos and personality disorders » cecilia, posted by JohnKeats on December 10, 2005, at 3:42:54
>
> I never heard the term AvPD until a few years ago. I don't know if practically you can distinguish AvPD from severe social anxiety.Personality disorders in general are conditions which are pervasive in the person's life, usually began late in adolescence, and involve quite rigid ways of coping.
You all are right, this is quite difficult to diagnose, and a thorough history, at the minimum, is necessary. And a severe Axis I disorder may have started in childhood or early adulthood, may be pervasive, and may have resulted in the person using sort of "tried and true" ways of coping, even if the methods are not so adaptive.
I think a key difference would be the inflexibility of use of defense mechanisms and coping strategies you seen in a personality disorder. A person with an Axis I disorder, such as Severe GAD, might have tried more strategies, or may use different ones, (perhaps none too sucessful) in different situations.
Just a bit of tangential information.
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:586809
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051203/msgs/587758.html