I have questions

Hello, I am a 22 year old guy living in Turkey. I have SPD an i'm in medical treatment for a few years. My family insists on that i must have this treatment and have a social life and a job, future etc. In fact i'm ok with my SPD and i actually dont wanna change but i must have a job in order to have a future. I am ok with my social life, yes i dont have many friends and i like solitary activities.

What would you suggest me? I mean should i force myself to change my social life? Or should i force myself to get a job, and decrease my time spent with internet? I'm taking zeldox, and today i went to a new doc. and he said i should increase the dose. He said that its not so possible i can be like a normal person but we can lower the effects as small as possible. Is he right? Am i in a serious illness and MUST i take medicines?

You must get a job, but try to get into a field where you can be creative and autonomous to a degree.

I've never heard about medication being effective against SPD, but they can have a positive effect on things like social anxiety, depression etc which often go hand in hand with SPD.

I don't know enough about you to give you any advice, and even if I did I wouldn't. This is something you must find out for yourself. What I can do, however, is tell you a few things about how my life has been and then you can see what might await you a few years down the road of SPD.

I'm 40 years old with no friends (don't really want any) and absolutely no social life. I've been in a mental institution for 5 weeks this year because of a paranoid psychosis, probably a side-effect of SPD. My job is in jeopardy because I don't have the social skills to function at the level I'm at, also my job changed office solution from cell offices for everyone to an open landscape. This caused my performance to deteriorate quite badly. Because of my laziness (another trait that is not uncommon among schizoids) I have not finished any education I've started on and so my choice of other jobs is very limited indeed. My life is almost completely devoid of meaning. I suffer from frequent depressions and I consider suicide almost on a daily basis. Any negative event, even a tiny one like having to go to the dentist, will trigger a suicide impulse. The reason isn't that I have such an incredibly low threshold for pain, but that there are so few joys to balance even this small pain that I really can't see the point of living through it. I could go on and on, but I think you see the picture.

Remember that this doesn't have to be what your life will look like, we are all individuals, but there is a reason for SPD being considered a disorder and that is that it wil affect your life negatively compared to what is considered "normal". However, you're not sick! Don't let anyone tell you that. A personality disorder is no illness, just a way of being.

Thank you for responding. Yes my parents sometimes use the word ill and i really get angry. I'll get some books about PSD or e-books etc. It's so strange, things that i knew as my personality are symptoms of a personality disorder.

I have not finished any education I've started on and so my choice of other jobs is very limited indeed.

Perhaps it's time to change that, HungryJoe.

Well, in my opinion a job is more important than people - especially for someone who is schizoid.

Im schizoid myself and have had only one social job in my life (croupier) and Im never going back there again. Im currently studying at the university, but if I had to take a job today, it would be something that wont place me in social situations, has a fairly good payment, and isn't monotomous. But that's just me.

I agree that a job is important as it puts food in your mouth and a warm roof over your head, but it is really depressing having to physically be somewhere you don't want to be for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year (I get 2 weeks vacation). And I'm even lucky enough to be able to work by myself and have internet access (i'm typing this at work right now as I'm bored out of my mind). Actually, my job demands very little of me and I still hate it, so I wouldn't say getting a job is necessarily the best way to go. Figuring out how to survive without getting a job would be the best way to go. Or working under your own conditions like starting your own business and being your own boss would be better. Be creative and try inventing something. If you can think of something that everyone will want to have then you'll never have to work a day in your life. Or play the lottery and cross your fingers, I don't know. Work sucks though, no matter how you look at it.

getting a job is not the answer. a job is just a job. its nothing special. its a way to get money pure and simple and since we live in a world where money is peoples god then money is important. if you can find a way to get money without dealing with the #######4 that comes with a regular job then you will be much better off.