Anxiety disorders can be classified in many ways. The one that we will see next is one of them. Anxious people are not anxious out of desire, nor can they modify this behavior by themselves, but rather in most cases they need professional help to control or cure said disorder.
Without going any further, in this Psychology-online article, we will talk about avoidance disorder, dependent disorder and OCD. Although they are not all, they are the main ones. If you want to know what they are, keep reading this article about personality disorders and anxious people.
Index
- Avoidant (avoidant) personality disorder
- Dependent personality disorder
- Obsessive compulsive personality disorder
Avoidant (avoidant) personality disorder.
a dominant pattern of social inhibition, feelings of incompetence, and oversensitivity to negative evaluation, beginning in adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:
- Avoid social activities They involve significant interpersonal contact, due to fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection.
- Not willing to get involved with people unless you are sure you are loved.
- Show restraint in intimate relationships due to fear of being embarrassed or ridiculed.
- Worries about being criticized or rejected in social situations.
- Is inhibited in new situations interpersonal due to feelings of incompetence.
- He sees himself as socially inept, personally unpleasant, or inferior to others.
- It is extraordinarily reluctant to take personal risks or to participate in any new activity because it can be embarrassing.
These are the classic people psychologists refer to as often as psychologists. "low self-esteem". Shy and clumsy, they can become increasingly isolated, becoming more like the schizoid personality. But notice the difference: the schizoid does not want relationships with others. The avoidant really wants to have friends, but is too afraid of rejection to try. It is absolutely difficult to distinguish an avoidant personality disorder from social anxiety or even simple shyness. In some cultures, most women and many men behave this way, in which case we couldn't call it a disorder.
Dependent personality disorder.
In dependent personality disorder there is a widespread and excessive need for care, which leads to a behavior of submission and adherence and of separation fears, which begins in adulthood and occurs in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
- Have difficulty making decisions everyday without an inordinate amount of advice and approval from others.
- You need others to take responsibility for most of the important areas of your life.
- Have difficulty expressing your disagreement with others due to fear of loss of support or approval.
- Has difficulty starting projects or doing things by himself (due to a lack of confidence in yourself, judgment, or his abilities rather than a lack of motivation or Energy).
- Makes excessive efforts for obtaining protection and support from others to the point of volunteering to do things that are unpleasant.
- It feels uncomfortable or helpless when alone due to exaggerated fears of not being able to take care of himself.
- She urgently seeks another relationship as a source of care and support when she breaks up with her partner.
- Worries in an unreal way for fear of taking care of himself.
You could see the dependent personality as an avoidant personality with a little more common sense, enough to get other people to help you.
Also as in the avoidant personality, many cultures (especially sociocentric ones) foster a degree of dependency. The fact that this disorder is the the most commonly diagnosed personality disorder, and that it is predominantly diagnosed in women, supports the idea that it may be cultural.
One of the classic situations where we find dependent personalities is in marriages where one allows the other to totally dominate the relationship. Sadly, many people in abusive relationships enter into them out of desperation for someone to take over their lives for them.
Obsessive compulsive personality disorder.
In obsessive compulsive disorder, a dominant pattern is concern for order, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficacy, which begins in adulthood and occurs in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:
- Cares about the details, the rules, the lists, the order, the organization, or schedule to the point that the main objective of the activity is lost.
- He shows so much perfectionism that interferes with homework completion (For example, you cannot finish a project because your own standards are not being met.)
- Is overly engaged to work and productivity, excluding hobbies and friendships.
- He is conscientious, scrupulous and inflexible in matters of morality, ethics, or values (not explained by cultural or religious identification).
- Can't dispose of items worn or worthless even when they have no sentimental value.
- He is reluctant to delegate tasks or work with others unless they submit exactly to his way of doing things.
- Adopts a greedy style of spending towards oneself and others; money looks like something to accumulate for future catastrophes.
- Show stiffness and stubbornness.
Very often, when we say that an acquaintance is obsessive, it does not mean that he has OCD. It means you have obsessive personality disorder. These are the perfectionists, not the ones who just want to do their best, just the ones who panic when things aren't perfect. This kind of perfectionism can work in your favor: many professors have at least a degree of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it seems to be a requirement for a medical degree!
Unfortunately, obsessive-compulsives are often sold out. Some also exhaust those around them, for example in the case of office dictators who believe that everyone must adhere to their impossible standards.
The obsessive personality is most common among men than women, and is often found in fundamentalist groups of any religion, where strict adherence to the rules is of utmost importance. In some societies, especially hierarchical (vs. egalitarian) and sociocentric (vs. egocentric), this kind of behavior is considered normal, not pathological.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Personality Disorders: Anxious People, we recommend that you enter our category of Personality.