Sanislow, Bartolini ’11, Zoloth ’10 Published in Human Behavior Encyclopedia

Charles Sanislow, assistant professor of psychology; Ellen Bartolini ’11; and Emma Zoloth ’10 are the co-authors of an article on avoidant personality disorder, published in the Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, 2nd Edition by the Elsevier imprint Academic Press, pages 257-266, 2012.

According to an abstract of the article, “Avoidant personality disorder (APD) is characterized by severe and chronic social anxiety. Prospective studies demonstrate modest symptomatic stability and chronic functional impairment. Current diagnostic conceptualizations distinguish APD from other distress disorders, such as anxiety and depression, by a long-standing pattern of social avoidance accompanied by fears of criticism and low self-worth so pervasive that it defines who a person is. New proposals to refine the diagnosis include the addition of trait components focusing on negative emotionality, introversion, anhedonia, and compulsive risk aversion to better distinguish APD from other anxiety-related disorders. APD is a useful diagnostic construct that captures an entrenched manifestation of social anxiety driven by feelings of low self-worth and the expectation of rejection.”