Books

Are there any books on Schizoid personality disorder?

Not just that disorder, no. There are some characters in fiction who are highly schizoid-like (The Stranger by Camus for one) and it's in The New Personality Self-Portrait but other than that, I don't believe so.

I have yet to find any whole book dedicated exclusively to SPD (which is hardly suprising considering the rarity of the alleged "disorder."), but if you are looking for insightful information about reclusive, solitary personality types in general, then Party of One: The Loner's Manifesto by Anneli Rufus is also very good and definately worth the read.

Well, there is always the infamous, H.J.S. Guntrip and his monumental work; "Schizoid Phenomena, Object Relations and the Self" but unless you are a psychiatrist yourself, that could be heavy reading. One reviewer suggested it as a cure for insomnia. "The New Personality Self Portrait" by John Oldham et. al. is an excellent book aimed at the general reader. It explains the basic theory of personality; which of course, it is necessary to understand the concept of personality to be able to understand the concept of "personality disorder". It also discusses the types of "normal" personalities, and generally treats "personality disorders" as extreme versions of personality styles. The "schizoid" person is thus seen as an extreme version of the solitary style.

Gary