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everyone provides peer counseling to each other as friends and community members, where members know each other so well that when someone is having an "off" day or is in crisis, members make sure staff know and do what they can to help. In our community at the MHA, just like in the community at large, not everyone likes each other, but we all share the bond of community. Unlike the community at large, our community is accepting of all members regardless of their different abilities and conditions.
Our community provides another benefit. It helps people fully participate in the community at large. Everyday when our members come to MHA, even those days when they are not productive, they are always successful at participating in a community. They become very productive when they feel invested in that community and want to make it a better place for its members.
I feel as if I have taken the credit for the accomplishments of our community at the MHA. Our members should be very proud of what they have invested in and created. We are successful as an organization because we are a community.
Avoidant Personality Disorder
(This article was taken from Psychnet-UK and can be found at: <http://www.psychnet-uk.com/clinical_psychology/criteria_personality_avoidant.htm>.)
Diagnostic Criteria
A pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:
avoids occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact, because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection
is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being liked
shows restraint within intimate relationships because of the fear of being shamed or ridiculed
is preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social situations
is inhibited in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacy
views self as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others
is unusually reluctant to take personal risks or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing
Associated Features
Depressed Mood
Anxious or Fearful or Dependent Personality
Differential Diagnosis
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