I've never had a friend. My childhood was so lonely. And now I am a grown woman with STILL 0 friends. I never imagined being in this situation for so long!!

I actually managed to get a job, my first job ever, 6 months ago. So excited but nervous thinking maybe I could finally practice socializing. I am IGNORED every shift. I try small talk but it's awkward and falls flat. I get donuts for all my coworkers and still no one wants to interact with me. I don't understand. I am putting myself out there and taking the risk and doing everything people tell you to do to make friends and it still doesn't work. and i'm wrong to believe there's something deeply wrong with me?

I'm not quitting because i refuse to be housebound for years again but it is so exhausting and frustrating living like this. i wonder what a lifetime of social exclusion does to people. i'm sure everyone here has struggled with this so any advice id appreciate so much

everything in my super fucked up "family" is falling apart and it's really making me realize that there is NOTHING WRONG WITH ME. it's SO OBVIOUSLY my parents. i don't know how i didn't see it before. i somehow convinced myself i was a slightly spoiled and self-centred upper middle class kid who had gone through few hardships. HELL NO. i have been the victim of SEVERE PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE by both of my parents this entire time, and i'm pretty confident i'll return to who i really am once i'm out of this and have a chance to recover: a funny, charming, extroverted guy with real social skill.

i have been the mediator for hours-long, Ultimate Stakes fights between my parents since i was, like, FIVE. i vividly remember trying to convince my mom that life was worth living in a parking lot around age 10. my unempathetic, irresponsible, sexist, and rude father would provoke my mentally unstable, emotionally manipulative, and self-righteous mother into weeks-long fighting. that fighting would cause my mom to get extremely sick due to a very rare chronic illness that is not understood by doctors which causes strong emotions, whether positive or negative (but negative is worse) to have a direct and immediate effect on her health (severe nausea and vomiting, kidney stones, ulcers, failing kidneys, migraines, etc etc etc). she would blame this sickness on my father, cementing the idea in my head that one little social mistake can cause others extreme harm.

as i aged, i sympathized more and more with my "abuser" dad because my fucked-up empathy made him far more relatable to me, and because he didn't dump nearly as much toxic emotional shit on me. my mom and i started having agonizing fights. i began to slide simultaneously into the roles of abuser, protector, and caretaker of my mother.

the most socially damaging part of all of this was that i could never form a consistent personality. i had to constantly switch between "dad mode" and "mom mode", selectively supressing parts of my personality to keep the peace. around my dad, i could be relaxed and unfiltered, but rarely truly myself. being around him was relieving yet quite lonely. around my mom, i could be silly and vulnerable, but i had to walk on eggshells and keep my "narcissist side" in check. i began to believe in a deep way that there was something fundamentally immoral about me, and i would forever have to mask in order to function in society.

i do have a genuine empathy deficit and i have done many bad things (and not fulfilled many of my obligations) as a result of this. i will have to find out how much of my struggles are inherent to me and how much is the result of trauma... AWAY FROM THEM AND AWAY FROM THIS. the time is coming soon when i will be forced to become much more independent, and although i have plenty of fears about that, i am also partly excited.

If I change, will people be able to see that? Why do I even care so much about what others think

for reference this is my first time posting after lurking for months and feeling too, well, avoidant to post anything. i also haven't posted on reddit in years anyways, so i'm nervous.

for reference, i'm (20F) not diagnosed yet, but i feel like my inferiority complex has always been my biggest problem, and i remember before i discovered avpd i would quite literally use the word "inferior" to describe how i feel about myself in my head. i'd google things like "shame based identity" without even knowing that my biggest fears are practically the core of this disorder. my entire life and mental processes revolve around avoiding and trying to prevent even the most mundane and inconsequential things that can make me feel embarrassed or ashamed of myself, aka exposing or showing who i really am, which is a weird, toxic, anxious, gross, and embarrassing subhuman mess, as well as being insanely, excruciatingly afraid of being made fun of or disliked by other people. :( everything clicked for me once i found out what avpd was, so i thought i'd come here and ask about something that really bothers me a lot concerning what's definitely the most serious symptom for me.

i actively avoid going on instagram reels and certain social media apps where people showcase their talents now because i see people who are talented in things i wish i could do even half as well and i feel so genuinely inferior to them. i really have no other word to describe this, i just feel like they are fundamentally better than me as human beings and i'm just lesser than with nothing to offer in comparison. i'm especially prone to this feeling with people who practice the same hobbies as me or ones that i've always wanted to be good at/have tried before and failed. it makes zero sense to feel like they're superior beings in all aspects just because they can draw or something, but the feeling is so awful and potent and i can't stand it, i get so down on myself because i know i'll never be that talented and achieve that level of respect and praise from others. sometimes i even get feelings of being resentful toward them just for being better than me. and i understand reasonably that skills take time to develop, and that everyone starts off where i am, but it doesn't even register in my head when these feelings arise. i just go in and start blocking hashtags + users who bring about this feeling and even avoiding the apps entirely because it's just a hub of people who are cooler and better than me. i'm a writer, and even when i DO feel like oh, maybe my work isn't so bad, i see other people who write in such amazing ways, and think of things i could never think of in my stupid brain, i want to just quit it altogether and run away because who am i kidding, i could never hold a candle to anyone else and i shouldn't show my work to anyone because it's so shitty and tryhard compared to other people's. this also means that when i feel confident enough to post a work online, i literally always end up deleting it soon after out of pure embarrassment, even if i receive kind comments.

this doesn't even only apply to talented people, i can feel inferior to people who are literally showing off zero talent, especially in fanbases that i'm in. i'm a kpop stan, which already sets up some unrealistic standards anyways, so if someone has more merchandise than me or if they've been to more concerts or if they're prettier, i feel like i'm a bad and fake fan and they're the ones who deserve those opportunities, not me. i know that the only qualification for being a "real" or "good" fan is enjoying the thing you like, that's it, but it really doesn't compute in my head; i just AM not a real fan because i don't have those opportunities, or because i'm not pretty, or because i don't live anywhere near where things like fancafes or concerts occur at, or because i don't have many albums or i can only afford knockoff merch, and everyone who does is just superior to me as humans. so i drag it out to the big picture, deciding that they're just inherently more worthy and better people than i am and that's why they have these things and i don't, because the rule of reality is that i'm lowly and stupid and not capable of being good enough for anything.

like i said, first time posting, not diagnosed, and i'm really terrified honestly so i might delete, but before i do, i thought i'd try asking if this is something other people like me experience. ><

Since past few mornings I have been bettering my routine, with meditation, yoga and gym and it honestly helps a lot to feel energized and happy, and ready to start the day.

But then the day progresses, I meet people, same insecurities cloud me, like people think I’m weird, or I have lost al connections.

I feel so angry at myself that I can’t just snap out of this and not living the life I want to be living.

Has anyone had any progress through therapy or other solutions? I really need to get rid of this disorder or at least control it so I can have a better life.

Around 2 months ago, I found out I was on probation when I went to check my grades. I kinda saw this one coming given that last semester I was doing so bad due to my avpd. I could not do my assignments at all and even attend class. Now, I’m facing the consequences of my actions and still haven’t found the guts to send in my appeal. It’s already enrollment season and I know I can’t keep putting it off or else I might not be able to actually enroll if I dont do it. To those who have been in probation before, what exactly do I put in my appeal? Is it worth mentioning how serious my mental health is affecting me?

This is something that is definitely very difficult, almost seemingly impossible for me to do. There are certain things my roommate does that I absolutely hate and I wanna call him out for it on the spot. It takes so much effort to simply tell him basic shit that needs to be and shouldn't even half to be said. IE washing your hands after using the bathroom, not leaving hairs in the sink after you shave, not leaving dirty mop water in the mop bucket. The list goes on and some times I just wanna bitch slap tf out of him because why are you being and inconsiderate dirt bag? The fuck!

Also like when my brother in law is joking around he likes to use the term "pussy" which I know can definitely apply to me, but that doesn't mean it don't piss me off and I wanna tell him do use that word around me but ironically it's because I'm that word I don't say anything. I just laugh like a fucking goof ball and act like everything is okay. It's beyond fucking frustrating learning how to speak up for yourself even when it's 110% nessesary! I'm a very fair person and my voice only needs to be spoken when absolutely nessesary, but unfortunately it barley or never is and I just suffer in silence.

this is going to sound so stupid so just bear with me.

i think everything i do is embarrassing, which isn’t very uncommon. but it has gotten to such an extreme point that now i am physically blocked from writing anything serious or doing anything serious out of fear of being wrong and/or cringe. i used to be able to write, i loved english class and writing essays. slowly, i became unable to bear looking at anything i create and i’ve lost most of my writing skills.

i really should’ve failed sophomore year english—my teacher was way too kind to me. when we would read books, i’d answer all the questions and write the paragraph about whatever prompt they gave me after reading a chapter or two. when my teacher walked by, i’d erase the entire thing in front of him. why? at the time i honestly had no clue.

i took photography in freshman year and really loved it, so i took AP photography in sophomore year. i couldn’t do much there. even though my teacher always praised me and i won a photography competition at the beginning of the year, i began to hate every photo i took. i went from an A+ student in that class to an F at some point because i would’ve rather had a finger cut off than have to look at one of my photos ever again.

the only thing i enjoyed was world history. the assignments we did there were usually questions from our textbook or questions while we were watching a movie. i believe this is because those questions often didn’t require my own opinion. there was a clear right and wrong answer so i didn’t really have to wonder how my writing compared to others or how cringe it looked since you were either right or wrong and thats it.

after that year i transferred to a continuation school because i was so behind on credits. at first it seemed really great, but then i realized all of this had only gotten worse. not a singular english assignment was ever turned in from me besides the first ones in august. all the things we have to write about at this school are always something about yourself or your goals or about your opinion on something we read. instead of writing it and then erasing it, i couldn’t bear to write it at all. the sight of my own handwriting makes me sick to my stomach. writing two words of my opinion or anything about myself in that setting makes me want to rip my hair out.

everything i used to love i can’t do anymore. photography used to be the only thing that made me happy, can’t do that. history used to be my favorite subject, can’t do that. i used to play piano for a few years, can’t do that anymore either since hearing myself fail as i learn a new song is too embarrassing.

i got addicted to daydreaming in september as a way to ignore the fact that i won’t be going anywhere any time soon. instead of doing english assignments i built an entire packet based off of the story i created in my head, but, again, i’d rather have a finger cut off than show anyone.

the worst part is that this grew to affect every single part of my life. i got friends for the first time in 1.5 years that same september and refused to hang out with them every time they begged me to out of fear of embarrassing myself by doing or saying something wrong. i left them by march since there was no use having friends since every time i talked to them and said something wrong i’d cry over it for the rest of the month. i regret allowing myself to have friends again every single day since then.

i’m going to be a senior in a few weeks. i’m pretty sure i won’t be able to get a single credit since my fear has not stopped growing. i’ll never be able to get a job because even speaking is too scary. i’ll never be able to get a drivers license because doing something wrong in front of another person is too scary. so scary it sends electric shocks up my palms and fingers that hurt really bad and make me cry. i can’t even leave the house most of the time. there is genuinely no hope for me

I remember how excited I was when a psychologist first diagnosed me. It fit perfectly, everything was spot on. The DSM described me to a tee. It's funny how little time it took to give way to reality.

"There is no cure. You'll always have avoidance. It can be mitigated, but you cannot cure personality disorders." That's what every psychologist and psychiatrist I've seen since has told me, to a person. This is how I'll always be. The best I can hope for is fighting against avoidance every single day of my life, if I stay alive. What a fucking joke.

okay bear with me, strange question and i dont really know how to word it. for those of you whose avpd includes disliking your physical features, mainly your actual face:

when you look in the mirror, do you notice that you hate what you see because** you genuinely dont like it or do you hate what you see because of the fact ***its what people see?*

over the past few months ive had few moments where i see myself and i get this feeling of like “oh i actually look pretty, i wish it counted (?)” please tell me someone else understands what i mean. like i can ONLY be or feel “pretty” in my own mirror in my own home, alone. magically teleport me in the same moment to somewhere public etc, my confidence would dissapear.

like on some level, i am capable of using enough logic to determine i am not as ugly and unattractive as my brain convinces me i am. what i truly feel like i hate, and what im trying to see if anyone else relates to, is hating myself merely because of the fact its what people see. like “this is me. and im sorry for being me and having this face.” like my own face annoys me because i think about people being annoyed with me or not liking me and so they might find my face annoying - its things like that that make me not like my face. not my actual face itself (although, that too lol. but ive learned how to atleast not entirely despise it.)