Differentiating avoidant personality disorder and social phobia

[UnderGrad]

Could someone please recommend a concise way to explain the differences between avoidant personality disorder and social phobia? Obviously, social phobia is on Axis 1 and AvPD on Axis 2, so AvPD would have a pervasive pattern, but I am looking for a succinct answer to explain this to someone else (aka board examiner). I got asked this today in a mock exam.

I remember I had a nice spiel at one time, but that was long ago....

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[nitemagi]

They're likely quite similar, on a continuum. Including in terms of genetics. APD is a more severe and pervasive form.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19187715