These individuals also appear as being very self-reliant however the problem is that these individuals are compulsive about their self-reliance. .

             DIAGNOSIS OF AVOIDANT PERSONALITY DISORDER.

             There are other disorders which have symptoms that overlap the diagnosis of the Avoidant Personality Disorder. These other disorders should be ruled out in making a diagnosis of Avoidant Personality Disorder. Those disorders are as follows:.

             Social Phobia, Generalized Type;.

             Panic Disorder With Agoraphobia;.

             Dependent Personality Disorder;.

             Schizoid Personality Disorder;.

             Schizotypal Personality Disorder;.

             Paranoid Personality Disorder; .

             Personality Change Due to a General Medical Condition;.

             Symptoms that may develop in association with chronic substance use. (Avoidant Personality Disorder, 2006).

             According to the work of Meyer and Carver (2000) in the work entitled: "Negative Childhood Accounts, Sensitivity, and Pessimism: A Study of Avoidant Personality Disorder Features in College Students" published in the Journal of Personality Disorders in the Fall of 2000 states that: "Theory suggests that individuals with avoidant personality disorder (APD) may have experienced rejection or isolation during childhood, that they may be temperamentally hypersensitive, and that they may hold pessimistic expectancies. In a sample of 127 undergraduates, negative childhood memories, sensory-processing sensitivity, and pessimism were assessed. To measure childhood memories, participants wrote open-ended narratives that were evaluated for valence by independent raters. To measure APD features, participants rated the degree of which verbatim DSM-IV criteria were descriptive of themselves. Negative childhood accounts, self-reports of sensory-processing sensitivity, and pessimism were correlated with DSM-IV APD features, even after controlling for the influence of present negative mood. Interactions suggested that pessimism was more strongly related to APD features among participants who were either highly sensitive or recalled adverse childhood experiences (e.