Whats the prognosis like for avoidant personality disorder?
I believe that I have something like this. It’s at the extreme end of the spectrum of social anxiety/phobias. As you might have guessed, personality disorders are notoriously difficult to treat, and I would have to say in all honesty that the prognosis is not good. I would say though, that it’s not helpful for a sufferer to label themselves, or be labelled with such a disorder, indeed many so-called “personality disorders” are questioned by many mental health professionals. A sufferer is likely to have this condition throughout their life..Certainly, that has been my experience. Medication can help alleviate the worst of the symptoms, usually an SSRI or Venlafaxine. As for providing support, I would suggest that it’s best to be realistic about the prospects of your relative getting “better” What would help the most though, is to try and understand the nature of the problem, which you already seem to have done. There may be minor improvements over time with very gradual exposure to fear
