The 10 Personality Disorders

Schizoid Personality Disorder

This post is intended to list characteristics of personality disorders, causes & treatments.

*These are characteristics often observed in a personality disorder though every feature may not apply to each specific personality disorder. Appreciate what is of value to you in this post and leave the rest.

Individuals with a personality disorder often experience chronic, pervasive difficulty with relationships, impulse control, & emotions. The features may be present in childhood, often become prominent in teen years, but often a diagnosis is withheld until adulthood.

Typically, a personality disorder is in sync with one’s ego. Due to this the person may lack self-awareness and externalize the problems associated with their personality disorder. Personality disorders can co-occur.

In order for a diagnosis a person must exhibit difficulty in at least one of the four, (among other criteria specific to the personality disorder);

• Distorted thinking
• Problematic emotional responses
• Over or under regulated impulse control
• Interpersonal difficulties

Data supports that any person with a personality disorder is more likely to have a substance use disorder. Though, sometimes it can be difficult to differentiate which is causing the other. Personality disorders should be diagnosed with caution.

Personality disorders are grouped into clusters based on common similarities;

Cluster A: Social withdrawal or awkwardness driven by distorted thinking

• Paranoid Personality Disorder
• Schizoid Personality Disorder
• Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Cluster B: Dramatic, impulsive and emotional thinking/behavior

• Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Histrionic Personality Disorder
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Cluster C: Driven by fear

• Avoidant Personality Disorder
• Dependent Personality Disorder
• Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Schizoid Personality Disorder

[Cluster A]

Symptoms

• Fairly rare
• Features present even in early childhood
• Rate is close to equal among male and female

Symptoms of Schizoid Personality Disorder

• Isolation
• Lack of interest in socializing
• Tendency towards solitude
• Cold
• Distant
• Detached
• Fantasy world
• Wallflower
• Inability to tolerate emotional expectations
• Asexual, or limited interest in sexual interactions
• Peculiar moral or political beliefs
• Aloof

Sometimes I think if nobody spoke to me, I’d never speak again. Alice Oseman

• Socially inept
• Failure to reciprocate gestures
• Failure to mirror others
• Reclusive
• Solitary Occupation
• Disengaged
• Ambivalence towards human contact
• Minimizes symptoms

Isolation offers it’s own form of companionship

Jhumpa Lahiri

• Indifferent to praise or critique
• Lack of strong emotional responses
• Unlikely to independently present to a clinical setting
• Flattened affect

*Schizoid personality disorder is NOT in occurrence with schizophrenia, bipolar, autism, or any other disorder with psychotic features, though it is recognized as a precursor to schizophrenia

Causes

Some research supports that early environmental factors contribute to schizoid personality disorder; such as if caregivers were cold, not attentive to emotional needs, or neglectful.  Evidence more strongly supports that heritability contributes. It is widely accepted that a combination of brain chemistry, genetics, childhood trauma, and environmental factors are the causes of schizoid personality disorder.

Treatment

Therapy & Medication

Most with schizoid personality disorder do not seek treatment as they prefer isolation

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy CBT or other psychotherapy may be used in the treatment for schizoid personality disorder

Support groups | Can help form friendships and interpersonal relationships

Group therapy | May see what others with this personality disorder face and how they cope

Family therapy | Can help family members become more supportive and more constructive

Medications | Most common are SSRIs since depression is not uncommon in this personality disorder, Wellbutrin may be another helpful antidepressant

“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.” Vincent Willem van Gogh

Vincent Willem Van Gogh was thought to have Schizoid Personality Disorder.

“What am I in the eyes of most people — a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person — somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then — even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart. That is my ambition, based less on resentment than on love in spite of everything, based more on a feeling of serenity than on passion.

Though I am often in the depths of misery, there is still calmness, pure harmony and music inside me. I see paintings or drawings in the poorest cottages, in the dirtiest corners. And my mind is driven towards these things with an irresistible momentum.” Vincent Willem van Gogh

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