Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

Platypus wrote:

Chan wrote:Personally, I find it offensive to use schizophrenia (which SPD is not) to try to explain SPD.

Why? Which part/passage offends you?

The whole idea of using schizophrenia (which, again, SPD is not) to discuss the causes of SPD (which, again, is NOT schizophrenia).

Platypus wrote:As the cause(s) of schizoid personality disorder is not known, this seems quite a valid statement to me:

What follows is a brief overview of the cause of schizophrenia in an attempt to explore what may be the cause of schizoid personality disorder.

Again, SPD is not schizophrenia. Using schizophrenia to "explore" the causes of SPD is like using AIDS to explore the causes of the flu.

I've heard there is a greater occurrence of SPD among people with one or more schizophrenic parent than among people whose parents are not schizophrenic, which suggests a possible genetic link between the two disorders. Furthermore, the diagnosis of SPD requires that schizophrenia be first excluded. So to me it seems quite relevant to discuss SPD in relation to schizophrenia.

Correlation is not causation and, again, just because an ancestor may have had schizophrenia doesn't make it valid to use schizophrenia to discuss the causes of something that is not schizophrenia.

Butterfly Faerie wrote:People with this disorder rarely seek treatment. The treatment can be difficult due to their initial reduced capacity or desire to form a relationship with a health professional. A non-intrusive support group can alleviate feelings of solitude and fears of social interactions and close relationships. Individual therapy, in most cases, has proven relatively ineffective and often temporarily addresses immediate conditions instead of seeking to terminate the disorder entirely.

I find that peculiar. I'm a diagnosed schizoid and I initially sought treatment because my father expressed concerns for me and my degenerative reclusiveness. I've never felt the "reduced capacity or desire" to form a relationship with my current psychologist and psychiatrist - whom I've had for six months or longer - and when we first started, I ticked off all the bad things and trauma in my life like a list, without much emotion at all. Being schizoid has actually made my therapy a lot better - then again, we're not treating me for my detachment, because it's my rationality and intelligence that is my only protection against my psychosis - but I'm able to discuss everything without an emotion. In fact, I like therapy, because it gives me an opportunity to learn, not only about myself, but also about psychology in general, and as an autodidact, that's a brilliant environment. Hell, my psychiatrist doesn't even talk to me about me, only last month, he ended up teaching me some maths related things.

When overwhelmed by external stimuli - sounds, social interaction, stress, et cetera - I do end up getting psychotic if I don't remove myself from the situation, and though I don't feel the need to interact with people - in fact, anything emotional just serves to irritate me - I am willing to do it for a chance to learn about emotions - since I have realised my inability to understand them.

I guess that's why I could get into the psychotherapy so easily; it was impersonal, professional and it didn't ask much of me emotionally, but instead stimulated my rational, problem-solving side. I'm learning about my own emotions, but not by feeling them - I just never feel emotions, my therapist and I usually look back on events and decide what emotions might have occurred that I didn't even feel.

I really, really don't "fear" social interactions. I fear the psychosis that gets more likely when I have social interactions. The social interactions themselves just irritate me, because I feel everyone is either legitimately stupid, or pretending to be stupid to get a rise out of me.

Hi moist owlet, and welcome.

Yeah, I had a positive experience in therapy as well. My therapist was probably the first person I ever ran across in life who really understood where I was coming from, so it was nice to have a little validation. That part about your psychiatrist not even talking to you about you rang true for me as well. Though the popular stereotype of the patient and psychiatrist has the patient lying on a couch spilling his guts for hours on end, my recollection is that I did very little talking and an awful lot of listening in my own sessions.

I don't experience strong emotions;

Do not desire or enjoy close relationships

I Avoid social activities that have a lot of people so I don't have to talk to strangers;

I have Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others;

I have no real close friends; just far away one and one I just met up with again from kindergarten

I'm Indifferent to praise or criticism; couln't care less

Aloof, cold affect, but I fake it as best I can and people think I'm happy

I do blow up once in awhile

Sure sounds like I have schizoid personality disorder.

I'm a 100% sure this is the wrong thread to post in, but considering that all schizoids would go through this thread ('coz it seems important?), I want to ask: Does anyone have an idea of how many schizoids exist in PsychForums?

Thanks in advance!

Can you have a streak of a personality disorder or maybe I'm none of these.

Depends unlike a mental illness a lot of shrinks seem to make up their own minds about pds. The shrink that diagnosed me whom i've since found out is a very highly regarded one says yes and refers to them as traits.

skinhead ginge wrote:The shrink that diagnosed me whom i've since found out is a very highly regarded one says yes and refers to them as traits.

That's essentially the same as not working with diagnoses but still giving them anyway.

Hello

I'm new to this forum and not sure where to post, but this place looks good as any. Although I am not diagnosed schizoid, I believe I am after doing a lot of research. I've always known I was a bit odd when it came to socializing yet never could find a reason why until I stumbled upon SPD. For me, it also explains why years ago I felt like I could have a family but now, years later, it just isn't important to me. This has caused a huge rift between me and my wife, and I now feel that if I have any chance of keeping the marriage intact, then I need to just say the hell with it and give her a kid. However, I just can't bring myself to do that. I know part of the SPD is the whole "lack of feelings" as my wife calls it, but I know I have feelings...I just don't have overly strong emotions.I don't feel all paternal when I see people with children and I don't get all excited about the prospect of having kids. As far as my marriage goes, I love my wife, but I'm not in love with her, and she knows this. Again, I think thats becuase of SPD. She thinks that if I just work at it then I could work out my issues, but if it was that easy I would have done that years ago. I just can't flip who I am on and off. She is a very emotional person and I am not, so I guess we got it wrong there. I guess what I'm looking for here is just some people who understand where I'm coming from and maybe some opinions/advice.

Hello, I have just registered on the forums.

For anyone who hasn't, I would highly recommend reading R.D. Laings work "The Divided Self." It has personally given me greater insight into my condition than any other theory, book, or even my psychotherapist, has been able to.

Hi volks. I'm new. Been lurking around for a few months and I keep wanting to say something but I get super paranoid about all the security measures and legal stuff you have to agree to before registering. I don't like accountability, I like anonymity. Anyway, just waving hello for my first post. Sorry this has nothing much to do with the discussion at hand.