Avoidant Personality Disorder in People living with Chronic pain
| Key things to know | What the evidence shows |
|---|---|
| How common is it? | Not established pooled AvPD prevalence |
| Is it more common among people living with chronic pain? | AvPD/personality pathology occurs in pain populations, but no clean population prevalence |
| Are people living with chronic pain at higher risk? | Some contextual association |
| How much higher is the risk? | NE |
| How often can it be missed? | Very High |
| Does it show up differently among people living with chronic pain? | Yes contextually |
| How might it look different? | Pain may legitimately limit activities; AvPD adds avoidance driven by rejection/inadequacy fears |
| What commonly occurs alongside it? | Depression; anxiety |
| What can it be confused with? | Pain-related avoidance; depression; social anxiety |
| Common screening tool | SAPAS — Standardised Assessment of Personality–Abbreviated Scale → clinical evaluation |
| Separate screening tool for people living with chronic pain | None |
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