DPD - Avoidant Personality Home

(a) encouraging or allowing others to make most of one's important life decisions;
(b) subordination of one's own needs to those of others on whom one is dependent, and undue compliance with their wishes;
(c) unwillingness to make even reasonable demands on the people one depends on;
(d) feeling uncomfortable or helpless when alone, because of exaggerated fears of inability to care for oneself;
(e) preoccupation with fears of being abandoned by a person with whom one has a close relationship, and of being left to care for oneself;
(f) limited capacity to make everyday decisions without an excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others.

Associated features may include perceiving oneself as helpless, incompetent, and lacking stamina.

Includes:
* asthenic, inadequate, passive, and self-defeating personality (disorder)

Personality Disorders

A personality disorder is a severe disturbance in the characterological constitution and behavioral tendencies of the individual, usually involving several areas of the personality, and nearly always associated with considerable personal and social disruption. Personality disorder tends to appear in late childhood or adolescence and continues to be manifest into adulthood. It is therefore unlikely that the diagnosis of personality disorder will be appropriate before the age of 16 or 17 years. General diagnostic guidelines applying to all personality disorders are presented below; supplementary descriptions are provided with each of the subtypes.

Diagnostic Guidelines

Conditions not directly attributable to gross brain damage or disease, or to another psychiatric disorder, meeting the following criteria:

(a) markedly dysharmonious attitudes and behavior, involving usually several areas of functioning, e.g. affectivity, arousal, impulse control, ways of perceiving and thinking, and style of relating to others;
(b) the abnormal behavior pattern is enduring, of long standing, and not limited to episodes of mental illness;
(c) the abnormal behavior pattern is pervasive and clearly maladaptive to a broad range of personal and social situations;
(d) the above manifestations always appear during childhood or adolescence and continue into adulthood;
(e) the disorder leads to considerable personal distress but this may only become apparent late in its course;
(f) the disorder is usually, but not invariably, associated with significant problems in occupational and social performance.

For different cultures it may be necessary to develop specific sets of criteria with regard to social norms, rules and obligations. For diagnosing most of the subtypes listed below, clear evidence is usually required of the presence of at least three of the traits or behaviors given in the clinical description.