Challenging the Expert: A Personal Critique of Rainer Sachse’s Perspective on Avoidant Personality Disorder
As someone diagnosed with Avoidant Personality Disorder (AVPD), I have extensively researched both clinical and theoretical perspectives to better understand my condition. In the German-speaking field, Rainer Sachse is one of the very few psychologists who has written in depth about what he calls „Self-Insecure Personality Disorder“ (SIPD)—a term he prefers over AVPD. His work provides more than just the standard ICD symptom list; he builds a theoretical framework around the disorder.
However, the more I examine his classification, the more I feel that his model does not reflect my personal experience—and, judging by discussions with other AVPD individuals, I am not alone in this. This post aims to challenge some of Sachse’s assumptions from a firsthand perspective.
Sachse’s Two-Tier Model of Self-Insecurity
Sachse differentiates between two types of self-insecurity:
- General Self-Insecurity:
- Characterized by broad social anxiety, including fear of embarrassment, behaving inappropriately, or being ridiculed in social situations.
- Specific Self-Insecurity:
- Primarily focused on romantic relationships, particularly the fear of approaching potential partners.
- According to Sachse, these individuals avoid romantic advances because they fear rejection and don’t trust their ability to navigate intimacy.
At first glance, this division seems reasonable. However, the second category—specific self-insecurity—has a major conceptual flaw: it is too narrowly defined.
The Problem with Sachse’s „Specific Self-Insecurity“
Sachse assumes that fear of rejection is exclusively tied to romantic relationships. However, many people with AVPD (myself included) experience this same fear intensely, but in completely different contexts.
For example:
- I have never struggled with approaching people socially. I can do small talk, introduce myself to strangers, and navigate casual interactions just fine.
- I don’t avoid romantic advances because I’m afraid of rejection—I avoided them in my youth because I knew that my extreme overweight (125 kg at my heaviest) placed me outside conventional beauty norms.
- The belief that „I am not attractive“ was not an irrational schema but an accurate assessment of societal standards.
- I never believed that I had nothing to offer as a partner, nor did I believe I was boring (which would align with Sachse’s theory). However, I was convinced that I would not even get the chance to show potential partners what makes me interesting and lovable—because I would be dismissed based on appearance alone.
- Scientific studies confirm that overweight individuals face widespread discrimination and are often unfairly labeled as lazy, undisciplined, or even unintelligent. Sachse’s model fails to account for these real-world social biases and instead treats them as mere „irrational thoughts“ that must be restructured in therapy.
Yet, while I have never feared approaching people socially, I have always struggled with situations where I am judged by an authority figure.
- The absolute worst example? Job interviews.
- I have avoided interviews multiple times, not because I believed I was unqualified, but because the mere act of being evaluated face-to-face was unbearable.
- Similarly, I was never afraid of written exams, but oral exams were pure horror, despite consistently performing well.
- The thought of being judged in real-time, where I can’t edit my response or take a moment to reflect, is infinitely worse than the fear of rejection in a social or romantic setting.
Sachse’s theory completely ignores these kinds of avoidant patterns. His framework artificially ties „specific insecurity“ to dating, when in reality, many of us experience this fear most intensely in authority-driven evaluation settings.
Michael Jackson: An AVPD Case Study?
To further illustrate this point, let’s look at Michael Jackson. While he was never officially diagnosed with AVPD, many aspects of his behavior align with the disorder.
✅ Extreme sensitivity to rejection and criticism.
✅ A paradoxical relationship with social exposure: He could perform on stage in front of thousands but struggled deeply with intimate personal interactions.
✅ Profound insecurity about his appearance. Despite being one of the most famous and successful artists of all time, he underwent radical physical changes—a clear sign of deep-rooted body image issues.
✅ Escaping into a fantasy world. His creation of Neverland, a childlike sanctuary free from judgment, suggests a deep-seated need to avoid emotional pain.
✅ Idealism and strong sense of justice. Jackson was deeply concerned with social injustice and humanitarian causes. His message of „Change the world“ was not just a performance gimmick but seemed to stem from a genuine, sometimes painful, desire to make the world a better place.
✅ Extreme perfectionism. Jackson was known to rehearse obsessively and demand perfection in every performance. This mirrors another paradox of AVPD: people with the disorder often don’t experience social situations—they perform them.
I recognize this in myself as well. I am extremely good at giving lectures and leading courses, but only because I spend an immense amount of time preparing to be absolutely perfect. My anxiety would never allow me to be unprepared. The fear of failure drives me to invest far more effort than most, ensuring that when I enter a situation where I am judged, I appear flawless. But that “flawlessness” is not natural—it is a coping strategy developed to survive judgment and scrutiny.
Many AVPD individuals experience similar struggles: they can function in some social areas but completely shut down in others. Like Jackson, many of us are also hopeless idealists who set incredibly high ethical standards for ourselves and others, often leading to disappointment. The inability to reconcile the world as it is with how we believe it should be can be a deeply painful experience.
Dig deeper: Sources
For a detailed explanation of Avoidant Personality Disorder in German, see the Wikipedia article: Ängstlich-vermeidende Persönlichkeitsstörung.
Note: The German and English Wikipedia pages on AVPD differ significantly. If you don’t read German, consider using Google Translate or a similar service to get an accurate translation.
What Are Your Thoughts?
I would love to hear from others with AVPD. Does Sachse’s model resonate with you, or do you also find it too restrictive? Let’s discuss!
