Peculiar, eccentric or unusual thinking, beliefs or mannerisms. Suspicious or paranoid thoughts and constant doubts about the loyalty of others. Belief in special powers, such as mental telepathy or superstitions. Unusual perceptions, such as sensing an absent person's presence or having illusions.
People with schizotypal personality disorder are often identified as having an eccentric personality. They might take magical thinking, superstitions, or paranoid thoughts very seriously, avoiding people whom they irrationally mistrust. They also might dress strangely or ramble in speech.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder Causes and Risk Factors
Brain malfunction, including brain trauma. Childhood experiences including abuse or neglect. Having a parental figure who is cold or detached from you. Injury or illness before or during birth. A history of psychotic breaks or periods of delusion.
Peculiar speech mannerisms and socially unexpected modes of dress are also characteristic. Schizotypal people may react oddly in conversations, not respond, or talk to themselves. They frequently interpret situations as being strange or having unusual meaning for them; paranormal and superstitious beliefs are common.
In most people with schizophrenia, symptoms generally start in the mid- to late 20s, though it can start later, up to the mid-30s. Schizophrenia is considered early onset when it starts before the age of 18. Onset of schizophrenia in children younger than age 13 is extremely rare.
Peculiar, eccentric or unusual thinking, beliefs or mannerisms. Suspicious or paranoid thoughts and constant doubts about the loyalty of others. Belief in special powers, such as mental telepathy or superstitions. Unusual perceptions, such as sensing an absent person's presence or having illusions.
Individuals diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder have been found to also have deficits in empathy. They are slower and less accurate at identifying facial expressions of others (Dickey et al., 2011). They are also poor at effectively creating facial expressions to reflect an emotion when asked.
Schizotypal personality disorder (STPD) is a mental health condition marked by a consistent pattern of intense discomfort with close relationships and social interactions. People with STPD have distorted views of reality, superstitions and unusual behaviors. Their relationships are usually hindered by their symptoms.
Individuals with schizotypal personality disorder have little capacity—and perhaps even need—for close relationships. They're often described as eccentric or bizarre. They may be suspicious and paranoid of others. They come across as “stiff” and don't seem to fit in anywhere they go.
Bodily illusions and unusual perceptions
Someone with schizotypal personality disorder may perceive events that others don't. For example, you may be in a room and feel someone is sitting next to you, but nobody else feels or sees it. Or you could be lying on the bed and feel you're levitating.
In the DSM-IV-TR, Asperger's Disorder (AD) is listed as an Axis I pervasive developmental disorder and is included within the autism spectrum. Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD) is listed as one of the Axis II Cluster A Personality Disorders and is considered to be a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder.
Schizotypal personality disorder occurs in almost 4% of the general population in the United States. It may be slightly more common among men. Schizotypal personality disorder is less likely to resolve or lessen as people age than most personality disorders. Other disorders are often also present.
Someone with schizoid personality disorder usually does not care about their condition or taking steps to improve their life. On the other hand, someone with schizotypal personality disorder will likely feel a great deal of depression and anxiety as they struggle with relationships and discomfort in social situations.
[1] Tangentiality refers to a disturbance in the thought process that causes the individual to relate excessive or irrelevant detail that never reaches the essential point of a conversation or the desired answer to a question.
Schizotypal personality disorder is relatively common disorder, and is considered to be a mild form of schizophrenia. It is characterized by such "psychotic" symptoms as ideas of reference, odd or magical thinking, perceptual illusions and an inappropriate or flattened affect.
767); instead, proposing the existence of 3 personality dimensions: (“Psychoticism”, “Extraversion”, and “Neuroticism”).
Personality disorders that are susceptible to worsening with age include paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, obsessive compulsive, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, and dependent, Dr. Rosowsky said at a conference sponsored by the American Society on Aging.
This review of 17 structural imaging studies in SPD indicates that individuals with this disorder show brain abnormalities in the superior temporal gyrus, parahippocampus, temporal horn region of the lateral ventricles, corpus callosum, thalamus, and septum pellucidum, as well as in total cerebrospinal fluid volume, ...
Coping and support
Factors that appear most likely to help reduce some symptoms of this disorder include: Positive relationships with friends and family. Healthy daily rhythms, including having a schedule, a good sleep routine, exercise and consistency with taking prescribed medications.
Two studies examined the relation between psychological trauma and schizotypal symptoms. In Study 1, in which 1,510 adults completed telephone interviews, both childhood maltreatment and the experience of an injury or life-threatening event were significantly associated with schizotypal symptoms.
Bipolar disorder.
People with bipolar disorder often have periods of being “up” or “on” when they're extremely energized or happy, then fall into periods of deep depression. Some people with severe bipolar disorder have delusions or hallucinations. That's why they may be misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.
Life is meaningless, you reason, so nothing matters. These internalized feelings of existential dread and despair are common with schizoid personality disorder, according to Greenberg. They may not always reflect a desire to die, but simply a lack of connection to life.
Delusional disorder is a type of mental health condition in which a person can't tell what's real from what's imagined. There are many types, including persecutory, jealous and grandiose types. It's treatable with psychotherapy and medication.
The SSA can assist a person with schizophrenia as the administration considers it a disability. To qualify for disability benefits, a person with schizophrenia will have to meet the SSA criteria and show that their condition is persistent and severe and prevents them from engaging in substantial gainful activity.
Avoidant personality disorder shares the symptom of lack of social contact with schiz- oid and schizotypal disorders, but the reasons for that lack of contact are very different: The avoidant person wants social contact but is afraid of rejection, whereas the schizoid or schizotypal person is completely indifferent to ...