Do I sound like I may have avoidant?

Most psychiatrists don't know what they're on about. The last one that saw me said I wasn't depressed " because I looked healthy and was eating well". lol

I mean seriously, these people are paid to do what again?

There are some really good psychs out there, but if you want to see one of them become rich, a celebrity or a serial killer.

I actually think many of your psychs know no more then the average person who posts in a site like this. Never thought that could be true but starting to think it is.

morning star wrote:Most psychiatrists don't know what they're on about. The last one that saw me said I wasn't depressed " because I looked healthy and was eating well". lol

I mean seriously, these people are paid to do what again?

There are some really good psychs out there, but if you want to see one of them become rich, a celebrity or a serial killer.

I actually think many of your psychs know no more then the average person who posts in a site like this. Never thought that could be true but starting to think it is.

I've believed that for a long time. The ones I saw 15 years ago were dealing with schizophrenics so they seemed to think everyone they saw had schizophrenia. They couldn't recogize severe avpd and GAD.

morning star wrote:Most psychiatrists don't know what they're on about. The last one that saw me said I wasn't depressed " because I looked healthy and was eating well". lol

I mean seriously, these people are paid to do what again?

There are some really good psychs out there, but if you want to see one of them become rich, a celebrity or a serial killer.

I actually think many of your psychs know no more then the average person who posts in a site like this. Never thought that could be true but starting to think it is.

Exactly.

Whether or not your AvPD or not is really besides the point, meaningless labels imo. What is important is that you have realized you want to make a change and are concerned about your behavior. Unless you want to risk being a 30 yr old loser like myself i would seek help now.

LCL wrote:I don’t have a clue want I want to do as a profession but I will just finish my final year of high school next year and go from there I guess. Maybe next year I will talk to the school councillor but I highly doubt I could muster up enough guts. Thanks for the advice, talking about this does help.

Hi, again LCL.
I replayed to this post before all this discussion began but my connection falled down.
I can relate with all you are telling. I feel as I was looking at myself in the mirrow twenty years ago.
Another possibility I was thinking of is that if you don´t feel confidence enough to talk to your school concellor, perhaps there is a teacher you trust in. Adults can understand better these things than your peers.

A middle ground would be nice, it was like that several years ago. Back then I was still bad in social situations but I had my own group of friends. My old friendships have drifted apart and these days seem like everyone I knew plus everyone else wants to just go out as much as possible and binge drink and party, but I personally don’t agree with this, perhaps another reason I can’t relate. Not that I was ever good at relating, I just had my own group of friends and stuck with them.

I’m not sure if what I’m experiencing is possibly a ‘phase’ or what. Does a “phase” imply short period of time. I feel like I can recognise myself as being like this for the past two years, but I was never good socially through my life anyway. I always sucked at relating to people, I was always quiet around people I didn’t know/trust. Now recently I’m noticing that I’m too scared to get into personal relationships, I don’t let people know too much about me in fear of being judged or criticized. I’ve did some strange stuff to avoid situations as well. Anyway I’m not trying to ask for a diagnosis just discussion.

I also felt as if I didn´t fit anywhere, the feeling of emptiness and foolish after a social interaction. But, now when I look back I know that the worst I did was put me appart. No opportunities to learn social abilities.
What Hanna says is completely right, one person always know if there is something different or that doesn´t work with him/her in relation to what is suppoused to be the standard. As young as someone could be.
Don´t let put any label (social phobia, anxiety, avoidant disorder, avoidant style...) The best is what The pain says: look for help. You don´t loose anything in trying it. Trust me. When I found a job I look for help on my own because I didn´t want to worry my family or being a change for them. Since this day I decided to do so, I have been capable of doing many things (Ok, with my bad days and my relapses) but I´m able to work, I have been loved and I have loved, I have some good friends, I have travelled and mainly I´m more compasionate with my faults and with other people faults.
I wish you luck, honey!

And for the other people that are discussing the professionalism of phychiatrists and phychologists, that´s remember me when a parent tried to tell me how I have to do my job. Ok, everyone can have their opinions but the one who have studying phychology and phychiatry are they. It´s right that there are errors, we can forget that phychiatry is still a new science, and the object of study can´t be measure. So, I woul have this into account.
@Parador, I still don´t understand how the hell a shrink can´t distingush between schizofrenia and AvdPD. What the hell told him/her or do?

twistermind wrote:@Parador, I still don´t understand how the hell a shrink can´t distingush between schizofrenia and AvdPD. What the hell told him/her or do?

I have mentioned it before. A teacher from my old school told me that the principal had been having sex with a student. I told an administrator at the school. He called up the local mental health crisis people and told them I was delusional. Then it got put in my record that I was delusional and everyone saw it everywhere I went.

Even if there was a doctor that did diagnose me I don’t think I would do much

Trust me get all the professional help you can possibly get, at least muster up the courage to speak to a doctor, phycologist or psychiatrist.

From my own personal experience this condition progressively gets worse as the years roll by. Whilst I don't feel I've benefited from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy I do know it can actually help some people. And who knows, it could help you. Better to try and get your problems nipped in the bud while you are still young (wow, that makes me feel old)

After The Fall wrote:

Even if there was a doctor that did diagnose me I don’t think I would do much

Trust me get all the professional help you can possibly get, at least muster up the courage to speak to a doctor, phycologist or psychiatrist.

From my own personal experience this condition progressively gets worse as the years roll by. Whilst I don't feel I've benefited from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy I do know it can actually help some people. And who knows, it could help you. Better to try and get your problems nipped in the bud while you are still young (wow, that makes me feel old)

Can I ask you a question? You say that CBT didn´t help you. Did you try or know any other kind of therapy? and one more question, sorry if I bother you, why do you think CBT didn´t help you a lot? Could it has to be with constancy? I´m not constant at all. Is this your case?
And I agree with your words. Good advise.

LCL wrote:I'm realising that I am extremely self conscious. I'm always thinking that people are judging me about my appearance and what I say. For years I’ve had this in my head the most people are judgemental dogs but it’s probably all in my head.

I was about to argue with you, but then I remembered that in high school, many kids still are judgmental dogs. The good news is that most of them will outgrow it, and when you've graduated and gone on to college or the real world, then it's not as bad anymore.

LCL wrote:The only symptom I can definitely say I don’t have is using fantasy as an escape...
Maybe I've already answered the question myself but do you's think I’m an Avoidant

Well the fantasy thing is pretty important. As others have mentioned we can't diagnose you but if I had to guess I'd say you probably don't have clinical AvPD. There really are a lot of 17 year olds who feel the way you do, I'm not saying everyone, but it's certainly more common than the actual incidence of AvPD in the population.

The fact that you're thinking about the issue and looking for answers is already a positive step though because there are things you can do improve your self-confidence. Starting with getting the hell finished with high school.

twistermind wrote:

After The Fall wrote:

Even if there was a doctor that did diagnose me I don’t think I would do much

Trust me get all the professional help you can possibly get, at least muster up the courage to speak to a doctor, phycologist or psychiatrist.

From my own personal experience this condition progressively gets worse as the years roll by. Whilst I don't feel I've benefited from Cognitive Behaviour Therapy I do know it can actually help some people. And who knows, it could help you. Better to try and get your problems nipped in the bud while you are still young (wow, that makes me feel old)

Can I ask you a question? You say that CBT didn´t help you. Did you try or know any other kind of therapy? and one more question, sorry if I bother you, why do you think CBT didn´t help you a lot? Could it has to be with constancy? I´m not constant at all. Is this your case?
And I agree with your words. Good advise.

I'm under a community mental health team and they actively encourage individuals to participate in CBT as well as providing medication. They believe CBT can be far more effective means of treatment than medication for my 'condition'. The problem I encountered, along with many of the other clients/patients, was that you need to be completely open with the psychologist to fully benefit from CBT.

They ask you extremely personal questions about your past and once you answer something they then delve straight into it to get to the root of your problem, which can be highly uncomfortable . Unfortunately I admit I'm not an open person at all. Therefore they couldn't help me to the best of their ability's because I had difficulty answering the said questions because I felt highly uncomfortable and knew once the session ended I'd feel worse as I'd dwell on what was said and mistake their intentions.

After around three months of weekly sessions I decided, and she also decided, it wasn't really working so I quit the CBT. I recently started doing a less intense version with my psychiatric nurse but again due to my lack of openness about how I really felt (mainly due to embarrassment) it came to an end. Maybe I'll try it again sometime next year as I realise that there's a lot of benefit to be had from it, I've just got to learn to be lot more open about my problems. They fully understood that and said that the majority of patients have encountered the same problem. I'd highly suggest trying it.