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Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD) is the topic of a growing body of research literature. In this article, we review empirical studies of APD with the goals of identifying the themes that underlie this work and pointing to new directions for future research. In particular, we recommend that future studies evaluate several unique factors postulated by personality theorists to be central to this condition.
Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD) is one of the more prevalent forms of personality pathology in clinical and nonclinical populations (e.g., Ekselius, Tillfors, Furmark, & Fredrikson, 2001; Stuart et al., 1998). By its very nature, APD provides a context in which to consider several of the major issues facing theories of disordered personality, including the overlap between various Axis II disorders and the boundaries between these disorders and the Axis I clinical syndromes. In this article, we will review empirical studies of APD with an eye toward identifying the major themes that underlie this research literature and determining what these studies tell us about the domain of personality pathology.
The article is divided into two sections. In the first section, we examine well-established areas of study, topics that have elicited interest from multiple researchers and produced largely converging patterns of results. Here we consider issues of conceptual and empirical overlap with other Axis II disorders and the relation between APD and generalized social phobia, topics that have been the focus of a substantial portion of the research on APD. In the second section, we explore several emerging areas of research. We begin this section with a discussion of the association between APD and other types of pathology and then move on to consider the role of social and cognitive processes in the development and maintenance of APD. Our objective throughout the article is to point to gaps in the research literature and to identify nascent ideas that are worthy of future work. Thus, while we begin with well-trodden paths, our hope is that we can direct attention to new avenues for research.
ESTABLISHED RESEARCH TOPICS
If there is one theme that permeates the literature on APD, it is the placement of this disorder in the broader domain of psychopathology. The majority of published studies address what might be called definitional issues, that...