Social phobia is a disorder restricted to circumscribed and specific situations, whereas avoidant personalities fear personal relationships in general. 

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

It is difficult to distinguish between generalized social phobia and avoidant personality disorder.

Boundary disputes of generalized social phobia.

Turner, S. M., Beidel, D. C., Dancu, C. V., & Keys, D. J. (1986). Psychopathology of social phobia and comparison to avoidant personality disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(4), 389.

Psychopathology of social phobia and comparison to avoidant personality disorder

Distinction made previously

Efforts to distinguish generalized social phobia and avoidant personality disorder have been largely ineffective, indicating at best that avoidant personality disorder tends to be relatively more dysfunctional than generalized social phobia. There seems to be few empirical studies examining the relation of these two disorders. It is acknowledged that "they may be alternative conceptualizations of the same or similar conditions.

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