ABSTRACT
Avoidant personalities are aloof, ill-at-ease, awkward, and hypersensitive individuals with low self-esteem. Although they are desperate for interpersonal involvement, they avoid personal contact with others because of their heightened fear of social disapproval and rejection. Although the treatment of individuals with avoidant personalities involves a number of unique therapeutic challenges, these patients can be effectively treated. As in the rest of this book, the chapter describes specific engagement, pattern analysis, pattern change, pattern maintenance, and pattern termination strategies for effectively managing and treating this disorder. In addition to individual psychotherapeutic strategies and tactics, group, couple, family, medication, integrative, and combined treatment strategies are detailed. A detailed case example illustrates the treatment process. Before turning to treatment strategies, the DSM-IV description and criteria are briefly presented.
