Avoidant personality disorder can be diagnosed by a licensed mental health professional through a series of conversations with the affected individual to see if they meet the DSM’s criteria for the disorder. To be diagnosed with a personality disorder, one has to have more than the traits and characteristics.
A person must be experiencing impairments in which the personality disorder negatively impacts the manner in which they function day-to-day.
Personality disorders are also patterns and are diagnosed by looking at periods of behavior over time.