A disorder characterized by an enduring pattern of avoidance of social situations and interpersonal contact due to overwhelming feelings of social inadequacy and a hypersensitivity to negative evaluation or rejection.

Avoidant personality disorder (AvPD), or anxious personality disorder, is a cluster C personality disorder characterized by excessive social anxiety and inhibition, fear of intimacy (despite an intense desire for it), severe feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, and an overreliance on avoidance of feared stimuli (e.g., self-imposed social isolation) as a maladaptive coping method. Those affected typically display a pattern of extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation and rejection, a belief that one is socially inept or personally unappealing to others, and avoidance of social interaction despite a strong desire for it...