Do you ever tell anyone you're a schizoid?

They'll use that against you in a heartbeat if they need to.

While initially i agreed with this statement, a couple seconds later i found it to not be the case.
What can they possibly do with this information? It's not like schizoids are to be kept in mental hospitals at all times. They will tell everybody that you are a boring loner with no friends? Well, people around you probably know that anyway.

If I were you I'd go with that first gut instinct. Or at the least that first gut instinct should be able to answer the questions you are asking me.

I'm not officially diagnosed, so I don't really feel justified to tell others about what I am. For the most part, people think of me as being introverted/quiet/shy, so any of my behaviors that does not conform to social expectation is automatically chalked off as a result of my introversion. I might need to tell my therapist soon, since she keeps trying to suggest that I interact more with people (she seems to think that my lack of social interaction is due to anxiety). Other than that, I cannot imagine a situation in which I would benefit from disclosing my disorder.

Sobakaa wrote:

What can they possibly do with this information?

Fire you. Pass you over for promotion. Stop giving you all the interesting assignments at work. Cut you out of their will. Not leave their kids alone with you. Pester you every five minutes to "get help". Not believe you and redouble their efforts to set you up with "the right person".

wickerwoman wrote:Fire you. Pass you over for promotion. Stop giving you all the interesting assignments at work. Cut you out of their will. Not leave their kids alone with you. Pester you every five minutes to "get help". Not believe you and redouble their efforts to set you up with "the right person".

Where i live they cannot fire me based on that.
Pass me over a promotion? Lol, i'm schizoid, i don't care if i become a manager and i'd prefer not to anyway.
Interesting assignments based on me being a loner? Lol, i'm not that paranoid.
Will? Don't care.
Kids? Thank god, for a schizoid noisy kids are a nightmare.
Pester me? Set me up with the right person? That's going on anyway, no matter what i say.

Sobakaa wrote:

wickerwoman wrote:Fire you. Pass you over for promotion. Stop giving you all the interesting assignments at work. Cut you out of their will. Not leave their kids alone with you. Pester you every five minutes to "get help". Not believe you and redouble their efforts to set you up with "the right person".

Where i live they cannot fire me based on that.
Pass me over a promotion? Lol, i'm schizoid, i don't care if i become a manager and i'd prefer not to anyway.
Interesting assignments based on me being a loner? Lol, i'm not that paranoid.
Will? Don't care.
Kids? Thank god, for a schizoid noisy kids are a nightmare.
Pester me? Set me up with the right person? That's going on anyway, no matter what i say.

Lucky you. Not everyone is in the same position. I don't want to be a manager either, but I do want to make enough money to maintain my independence. Having spent six years trying to find a job I could stand, make a living off and probably manage to hold long enough to pay off a small flat and retire, I'm not jeopardising my job security for anything. The point of getting a promotion is to make more so I can retire and be a hermit sooner.

And I don't want to hang out with kids, but I don't appreciate being treated like a creepy paedophile either.

Basically I don't want to draw attention to myself. And nothing draws attention like telling people you have some exotic mental illness they've never heard of that means you could possibly be a threat to their child.

Do you ever tell anyone you're a schizoid?

Before I went to a psychosomatic clinic, no. After, yes. I dont mind talking about it much anymore. I didnt tell everyone. People whom I suspect to be - well - on the less brighter sight, I just tell that I'm depressed and as a consequence tend to be socially withdrawn. People who may be able to cognitively grasp the issue I tell that I am schizoid but -though related - it is not to be confused with schizophrenia. I do not hear voices, I'm just weird. That, and the social incapabilities.

And if so, how did they react?

One person, when I first told them, looked at me for a while earnestly and silently nodding. He didn't say much about it, but he also didn't mind. Guess since he's sort of misanthropic he could relate.

Another person asked many questions as to what the condition is exactly. She didn't quite get it (since she's an extrovert I suppose, and it was hard to relate), but she also didn't mind it much.

My mother agrees with some of the criteria and doesn't aggree with other criteria of the condition. Being depressed herself ever since I was born I suppose she could relate to that part at least.



Well, what it comes down to in the end is: Did those people that you tell ever deal with a psychological condidtion themselves or in their periphery? If so, then it's likely they will understand or at least try to. If not, you might as well leave it be and tell them you're introverted and that's that.

I've told both my parents. My dad listened and asked questions and seemed to understand since he's quite similar to me. My mom didn't really seem to "get it" and just kinda went along with the conversation. I told them in the hopes that it'd help explain why I say/do some of the things I say and do.


Other family members who I live with.. haven't told them yet. I can't really be bothered with having a conversation like that out of the blue. I suppose if we were talking about something similar and the opportunity presented itself i'd mention it but meh, i don't feel like they'd understand at all.

I've told a bunch of long term friends and that went reasonably well. At most, they'd triy to argue that I'm deluding myself on some aspects of being schizoid.

I did tell my mother and that went much worse. At the time, my mother was getting increasingly frustrated with me not socializing and having practically no ambitions. I eventually told her about it in hopes that the concept wouldn't be too alien to her and wanted her to read up on the Wikipedia article, but she accused me of looking for excuses and sticking labels on myself (even though at the time I was already diagnosed). In recent years, my mom has grown more accepting of my nature, but I gave up on any further attempts at educating her on the subject.

I don't see any situation in which that would be beneficial.