avpd culture is.... not liking the label avoidant?
it took me so long to even consider i might have avpd because i never felt "avoidant". there's a weird, dodgy sort of feeling when i picture the word— it feels like calling ADHD "procrastination" or executive dysfunction "laziness". it feels like it comes from an external point of view that doesn't Get it, isn't even trying to get it.
i don't have the "weaseling out of things" disorder, i don't have the "deliberately flakey and unreliable" disorder— avoiding things is the effect, not the mechanism, and it took looking at actually avoidant anecdotes for me to realize that.
personally, from an experiential point of view, it feels more like a risk aversion blown out of control. i'm always worried that something i do will have some kind of Effect, so i don't do anything at all. and it doesn't register that not doing things can also have an effect, and when it does it's even more paralyzing.
and i think, knowing what the hell my brain is ACTUALLY doing instead of just vaguely being accused of being "avoidant" is really important and helpful for being able to cope with it