Hi, New, First post. "Shrink" help.

Hello everyone,

I'm a self-diagnosed Schizoid currently in therapy at the behest of my (thankfully) co-dependant mother. Anyway, my question for any of you compatriots out there reading this that have either been in or are in any sort of therapy is: How did the (possible/probable) diagnosis of being a Schizoid come up? I've been reading about Schizoid Personality Disorder for some time now, comparing the characteristics of such with my own position in life and understanding of my reality and it's (to me) the only thing that clearly fits.

I can think of only 2 reasons off the the top of my head as to why the 4 different therapists/psychiatrists/psychologists have [mis]-diagnosed me as: bi-polar (weird - I guess as a result from Zoloft making me more manic than my experiences w/ Crystal Meth), depressed, anti-social personality disorder (I get violent fantasies when people don't leave me alone for too long), schizophrenic-in-the-making (???? - sometimes I wonder what these people went to school for). These 2 reasons being that 1) It's a rather rare personality disorder that they just aren't on the look for so it will take a bit of time - (I've only had 4 sessions with this current therapist), 2) I have a history of OxyContin/Heroin abuse that could cloud the true personality disorder behind a mask of drug abuse making their job non the easier... but I've been clean for 2 months now though so you'd think it shouldn't be an issue (but man are they adamant).

I almost get the feeling that their almost scared to bring it up.

And I bring this up here because this is the only decent Personality Disorder/Schizoid community on the internet I could find and I have a referral to another psychiatrist soon and I'm getting sort of bored/exhausted of seeing 'shrinks'. I'm thinking about telling him I think I'm a Schizoid and why and could I go home and not waste another $100 of my mother's money.

Anyway, for those of you that have been in/are in some sort of therapy share some stories if you're up to it. Thanks.

i'm about 99.9% sure that i'm schizoid too, but my therapist refuses to talk to me about it, as if she's scared or something.. she refuses to diagnose me with anything or even tell me what she thinks is going on with me.. i don't understand why therapists are so hesistant to diagnose people and give them the proper treatment they need. it's kind of cruel if you ask me.

Yeah, I don't know either... I mean, going over the DSM-IV's critia for being Schizoid, I match 6/7 of the personality characteristics to a perfect 'T' and the 7th is there, but I don't think it's as extreme compared to the others. So I dunno. It's sort of frustrating. I'd like to yell at them - really drive the point home, tell them off, how stupid they are, how obvious it is to me, and would people just get off my back and leave me alone, but I can't.

Ugh... almost gives me a headache.

I was initially referred to a clinical psychologist because I was having trouble coping with stress.
My first appointment with the psychologist was meant to be a single session for assesment purposes only. Following that I was scheduled for 12 weekly therapy sessions of (mostly) cognitive behavioural therapy.
I self diagnosed my schizoid p.d. having read the full D.S.M IV and a couple of very dull psychology text books in the week between the first session and the second. My psychologist, with a little coaxing, confirmed my diagnosis during the third session.

Waxwing Slain, I suggest that you see a clinical psychologist for confirmation of your schizoid p.d. and ask for cognitive behavioural therapy rather than "waste" more money on a psychiatrist. Drug therapies simply don't work for schizoid p.d. as we do not have any chemical imbalances to correct.

I was diagnosed as a schizoid through a structured interview with two psychiatrists. One to ask the questions and the other observing. Both graded the test independently before they compared their notes and reached a diagnosis.

I've gone to weekly therapy sessions with a psychologist, but didn't find it helpful. In fact it felt like going to the dentist every week.

I'm not trying to defend your therapists, but their suggestions are not mutually exclusive. You may in fact be all of them. You shouldn't be too concerned with labels though. Labels don't change the way you are. Treating personality disorders takes a long time and schizoid is one of the hardest to treat, probably because most of us resent the idea that our personality is something we need to be cured of, but hard doesn't mean it's impossible.