AVPd plus ADD

Is it possible to have avoidant personality disorder and ADD or does one cause the other. I have pretty much every sympton of both, I don't have ADHD since I'm not hyperactive but I do have the symptoms of ADD. I have my first appointment with a family Dr coming up and would like to know what to expect and if they will be able to do anything.

Hi jwestbury83,

In my experience, all doctors are different.
What i learned to do is to prepare such appointment.

For instance:
- writing your symptoms on a paper
- writing your questions on a paper
- feel free to read your paper at any moment
- it can be good to write what they say.

With one appointment, i don't think they can do much. They'll probably need more appointments or give you the address of a more specialised doctor.

I was diagnosed with ADD in my childhood aswell - Though i don't know if that has any significance in the greater picture overall or contributed to the PD's development in any way. I can certainly see how it could heighten nervous tendencies and so on from an early stage though

I doubt a family doctor could do anything. But they can refer you to a therapist or someone more specialized. Personally, it helps to tell your doctor what really rattles you at your first appointment. What helped me was I also made it clear, whenever I say " I don't want to answer that" means you are prying into my business/judging me too much to the point I feel uncomfortable. But gradually you should push yourself to answer questions with honesty that made you feel uncomfortable. Hiding details here or there doesn't mean you are not being honest. I think you should be the one to open up your own wounds whenever you are ready. Basically, you should be the one taking charge of your appointments, not the doctor. If the doctor can't see that, then you should find a different one.

I agree with miserie. The doctor can give you information about people who can help (therapist, etc). Not necessarily a specialised doctor.

I hope the appointment was ok.

As someone with AvPD and also childhood ADHD (now ADD), it definitely IS possible to have both. I believe that, for me anyway, my ADD led to my developing AvPD. I was teased and bullied because I couldn't (and didn't) act the same way other kids did, and that simple things for normal kids were twice as hard for me. I also went thru emotional, psychological and verbal abuse from my parents, which also led to my developing AvPD. I hate having both because it feels like a "double whammy."

I was diagnosed with ADD as a child. Apparently they've changed the name to ADHD-PI, meaning Primarily Inattentive, but not all the pros are using the new term. I'm now 51. I don't know if the ADD would have contibuted to the AvPD if circumstances for me had been different. But I didn't know I had ADD until I was 42. My mother called to say that my middle niece had ADHD and wanted to know what my school experiences were like. "Why are you asking me?" "Well you have ADD." "I DO?!" I work in an academic library, so after talking to her I immediately went upstairs to look through the books on ADHD in adults. It was fascinating to read a book and see yourself in nearly every description. I had the same experience after I was diagnosed with AvPD.

From what I've read, one of the first groups to be ostracized by their school peers are those in the ADHD group. Also from what I've read, early rejection by peers can be one of the factors contributing to AvPD.

Comorbidity (having more than one condition at the same time) is common in all forms of medicine. I've also read a lot of overlap of symptoms between ADD and AvPD, so it certainly seems possible to me that a person could have one, the other, or both. I've been diagnosed with both. To be perfectly honest, I now have doubts about my ADD diagnosis. Attention control can be pretty difficult when I'm constantly worrying about what other people are thinking of me.

I agree with you 1000% WhyAreTwo.

My 13 y.o. niece was just dx'ed with ADHD. Interestingly, she was dx'ed at the same age I was.
I only hope she will not develop AvPD as a result. The poor coordination, inability to focus, and short attention span can be hard to deal with.