Do you ever feel like you are Avoidant and Schizoid?

At times I want to get close to other people but I'm afraid of them hurting me while at other times I'm not sure I would like being close to them at all because I wouldn't enjoy it and I like to be alone. What I'm saying is that I think I am both Avoidant and Schizoid and it alternates depending on my mood. Maybe someone who is just one or the other has it easier since they don't have that feeling of being internally conflicted.

Yeah, I've just started to think this recently. I used to think I was schizoid but now I'm not sure. Maybe both.

KevinG31 wrote:At times I want to get close to other people but I'm afraid of them hurting me while at other times I'm not sure I would like being close to them at all because I wouldn't enjoy it and I like to be alone. What I'm saying is that I think I am both Avoidant and Schizoid and it alternates depending on my mood. Maybe someone who is just one or the other has it easier since they don't have that feeling of being internally conflicted.

I think that AvPD and SPD are quite similar in many ways when you read the criteria anyway. So I do find that I can relate to both. It is of course possible to have both those personality traits too.

What I think I have found is that having spent so many years avoiding relationships I have become much more schizoid about it i.e. I don't want relationships, I just want to be on my own. And it becomes very automatic - you don't go through the "if I get to know this person they are going to reject me and therefore I am going to avoid them" thought process. You just kind of skip to "I would prefer to be on my own". It's almost like an extra defense mechanism; if I don't go there then I don't have to go through all that AvPD stuff again. I think having AvPD can cause the same internal conflict you talk about. Because avoiding relationships means you end up feeling lonely; and that then sparks the desire to be close to people.

The idea of a part time relationship sounds really good. I just wonder how that could actually work in reality. Probably not easily.

Yes I do. I personally feel more schizoid than avoidant, since I absolutely and 100% prefer being alone, and I don't really have an interest in others. Also I am not interested in relationships. However I react emotionally to criticism for example, which doesn't quite fit the profile. I tend to avoid situations that involve justifications, however I often get a guilty concience when I push people away or don't answer the phone. So I am not emotion-less and I get worried. Though I don't really show emotions on the outside. It's quite confusing for me to be honest.

I think I have schizoid peronality with nacicistic schizotypal and avoidant traits
I get nervous with people but I never wanted friends because I find social interactions boring

I'm an ACON, so although I am not avoidant and might be schizoid, I can seem avoidant in the sense that I worry people, particularly authority figures are angry with me. Teachers, bosses/managers, cops, etc can make me a bit nervous, or at least wary, but more because I don't trust them. I'm also fearful of things such as knives and have visions of being run over every time I go for a walk or accidentally shaving my eye out every time I shave, but that might be more general anxiety than an avoidant's fearfulness.

KevinG31 wrote:At times I want to get close to other people but I'm afraid of them hurting me while at other times I'm not sure I would like being close to them at all because I wouldn't enjoy it and I like to be alone. What I'm saying is that I think I am both Avoidant and Schizoid and it alternates depending on my mood. Maybe someone who is just one or the other has it easier since they don't have that feeling of being internally conflicted.

Kevin could please take this test?
avoidant-personality/topic137763.html

But I think there is no definite answer to your question.

If you look back in history there was no such thing as AvPD. There was just schizoids, and schizoid were nowadays schizoids, schizotypals and avoidants. Depending on how you define schizoid and avoidant you can be both or none.

I know because I got confused about the schizotypal. In some descriptions schizotypals were always bizarrely odd, but in some not necessarely.

I think I am just highly schizotypal, like the avoidant I have high anxiety and self-counciouness, but I am not timorous, shy or low in self-esteem. Now the DSM schizoid in theory is neither anxious or self-councious, only apathetic, but that is not what I see in the schizoid forum. And maybe if someone is avoidant but also have antisocial, narcissistic or paranoid traits, I think he would look like schizotypal.

I think you need to remember as well that we are all unique individuals who don't fit into neat little boxes. Although I do perhaps share a diagnosis with other people on the forum I am probably very different to them in many ways. There are so many factors involved in making up my personality.

The diagnostic criteria is only really there as a guideline to enable doctors to identify the best treatment options for people. It is never going to be as definitive as say a blood test for diabetes for example. And the simple fact is when you do read some of the research they cannot actually say what causes AvPD, why some develop a personality disorder and some don't or what they can do to fix it. The labels don't even help very much with treatment either - some people respond well to certain treatments whereas they may be of no assistance to someone else.

So I do think you need to be careful not to get too caught up in the science and theory behind the diagnosis. It may just be that as individuals we feel a greater affinity to one group of people than another.

RememberRonni wrote:I think you need to remember as well that we are all unique individuals who don't fit into neat little boxes.

True, but damn those boxes really are neat (I'm a huge fan of boxes, too much at times, my theory is actually that - indeed - everyone is special but this is only due to the fact that there are so many tiny boxes we are split into that it's almost impossible for two people to have all of the same ones. Two might agree on 99% of the boxes but the one percent is where they go apart and maybe even influences a lot of their life.

Anyway, to answer the topic: fitting into these two categories was quite easy for me. After realizing I had schizoidic traits I read a lot about it and absolutely everything clicked - except for the one tiny characteristic that I was supposed to be indifferent to praise and criticism. This is not true for me, need for positive confirmation is actually very important to me. And when I checked the "to be" lists for AvPD, this need for approval was the only one that really fits me. But again, this need to be approved and the fear of rejection are so strong that I consider myself to be part avoidant and not just schizoid with one missing trait.