What Is Avoidance-Anxiety?
Joshua Henderson
Avoidance is a normal behavior and necessary for survival. Avoiding harmful situations helps keep you safe. If you have avoidance-anxiety, however, your level of avoidance is extreme because you tend to perceive even relatively safe situations as threatening. Avoidance-anxiety is a common feature of many anxiety disorders. It is characterized by an intense fear of social situations, feelings of inadequacy, lack of self-confidence, and super sensitivity to perceived negative criticism or rejection, making it hard to connect with others. It may also lead you to go out of your way to avoid people, situations, or activities that trigger your anxious feelings instead of addressing your stressors and learning how to...
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