Diagnostic Criteria, Schizoid Personality Disorder

King Carcosa wrote:I bathe and brush my teeth about once a week.

You should try doing it everyday, specially for you teeth. Make it some kind of routine. I manage to do them everyday because i somewhat accustomed. I wake up, tidy my bed, go to the bathroom, take a piss, wash my hands, wash my teeth then take a bath.

Have not been diagnosed proffesionally yet. Seeking treatment for it seems pointless, except the fact that people around you gets to know what boundries there is to you. Face to face with some beardy, random psych with locked doors isn't really the most pleasant thought. Slightly a waste of time too, I just want to be for now.

I've read a lot about psychology and the subject, and yeah... a lot of it fits in I guess. But I'm not going to a shrink just to get a marker on my forehead. Only time could convince me really.

Hi. I'm new to this but wanted to hear from people who have schizoid personality disorder so that I can better understand perhaps what my son is thinking on the inside.

My son who just turned 27 was diagnosed with Schizoid Personality Disorder about 4 years ago. When he was 12, he was diagnosed with Social Anxiety. After doing alot of research on the Schizoid Personal Disorder, he fits the symptoms perfectly. He has tried university and college but ends up quitting. He prefers to be alone. We never know what he is thinking. I am the only person that he tends to have any kind of relationship with (even though it's not much, it's something). If he wants to say anything to me, he will stand around trying to say it but has a very difficult time. He has always had a very difficult time in saying something that is of importance to him. He has no friends outside his online computer friends. He doesn't socialize. Rarely goes outside. Avoids all socialization. He is extremely smart. His computer is his life line. We've seen him smile and laugh but maybe he reacts in knowing its the right thing to do I guess. Sometimes we hear him talking to his computer friends online and we'll say, "who is that person talking" to ourselves. If you ask him any kind of question, his answer will most likely be " I don't know". He's not flexible at all. He has to think about a situation or what the outcome will be or how a person will respond to him before saying anything to anyone. His younger brother is getting married and was asked to be a grooms man. He said yes but told us the other day he can't. This didn't surprise us. He doesn't want to go to the wedding. We are trying to encourage him to go, trying to be flexible so that he can just go to the wedding (no reception) and go back home. He doesn't seem to care that his brother may be disappointed. That lead me to ask him a couple of questions I've never asked before. Does it bother him that his brother may be disappointed if he doesn't go - his answer was he didn't know. Did he love his brother? He didn't know if he did. Did he love me(his mother) or father? He didn't know if he did. I was very hurt I'll admit, this was hard to swallow as a mother. It was like he didn't have any emotions at all. We have and will always be there for him, encourage him and continue to do whatever we can to help him in life. He knows this. He has been on meds but they never helped him so he isn't on any right now and there is no difference in him. He has been to psychologists and it's like they give up on him or he stops going. He is vitamin D deficient because he doesn't go outside to get any sun and he doesn't eat right. I bought him an artificial sun light which I've seen him use.

We are ok with him having this personality disorder as this is who he is. What breaks my heart is he has missed out on everything a teenager from 12 on would normally do in life. But if he doesn't miss this because this is who he is - then we are ok with that. I'm just not sure if he knows what it is like to love a sibling or parent? Or is he able to feel our love for him. I'd like to think yes he does but just doesn't know how to show it or say it. But after him telling me he doesn't know if he loves his brother or his parents, I'm thinking perhaps he really doesn't know what's it like to.

Any information or clarification on what a person feels who has this schizoid personality disorder would be appreciative. Just looking for some kind of feedback I guess.

Thanks.
Concerned Mother.

Homerpug wrote:Any information or clarification on what a person feels who has this schizoid personality disorder would be appreciative. Just looking for some kind of feedback I guess.

Very complicated question. I had trouble putting this up.

The problem is that schizoids (at least in my experience) are very sensitive with emotions. I most of the time feel neutral. When i feel some emotion (generally fear or anxiety and rarely anger) it's very uncomfortable. I feel broken and need some alone time to recover.

My guess is that your son never thought or considered these questions for himself, so when you asked him he didn't knew what to make of it and just said "i don't know".

Hi. I'll dive right in but try to make it a kiddie pool.

With an increase in family medical issues of late I've noticed a lack of appropriate empathy. Additionally, my employer recently told me his father died. I felt nothing. Barely a shred of empathy. This prompted me to look at antisocial as I had a "girlfriend" call me a sociopath before. But I do feel guilt and shallow empathy, never lie and don't manipulate people. Although with my almost complete lack of socialization and friends I don't have many opportunities to do so, anyway.

I hit upon schizoid and on reading the wikipedia page remarked, "that's me!" I fired off a text to my only long time friend and brief "girlfriend" who is studying psychology. She said she actually used me as an example of schizoid in a paper.

Our relationship was an example where, as soon as it became more emotionally intimate than a friendship, I pushed her away. I wanted the sex, and when physically together it was passionate and I wanted the intimacy, but as soon as we were apart, I didn't. So I ended it after only a few weeks and for a few years we never spoke. Several relationships consisted of my being emotionally uninvested and unavailable and primarily interested in sex, where I either made sure they didn't get too close or withdrew if we began to.

Today I saw my psychiatrist - I am on meds for bipolar depression, lamictal and wellbutrin, although I have always been skeptical of the bipolar dx and have begun discontinuing the lamictal. I discussed my thoughts on schizoid and she remarked that were she to pursue it, it would be the best fit, although she leans more on continuums than cut-and-dry labels.

I have started seeing a new psychologist/therapist to address my depression and social isolation as it has been increasingly problematic. I am very lonely while also disinterested in socializing, wouldn't even know where to begin approaching an attractive woman, and this is fueling depression, threatening to undermine my long term hopes and dreams.

So that's where I'm at right now. I'm pleased to find this forum as it has already provided valuable feedback for my thoughts.

Nineteen,

General question: Can you be schizoid PD and have great difficulty accepting criticism? For instance, if you call them Stinky go take a bath...will they flip out on you and call u all sorts of names and take things too much to heart? my ex SO can be any one of these PD's incl. AvPD, BPD, PPD, and definitely Schizoid. How do you make the distinction? Thanks.

exes have all sorts of pd's, it's just a fact of life

(yep, this is sarcasm. but it also turns out to be self-criticism in my current situation)

pandora64 wrote:Nineteen,

General question: Can you be schizoid PD and have great difficulty accepting criticism? For instance, if you call them Stinky go take a bath...will they flip out on you and call u all sorts of names and take things too much to heart? my ex SO can be any one of these PD's incl. AvPD, BPD, PPD, and definitely Schizoid. How do you make the distinction? Thanks.

honestly, i feel like most people just don't understand personality disorders. There are actually descriptions and things that are very clear in the schizoid frame, yet most people don't realize it or bring it up. what you described of someone who is sensitive and has difficulty accepting criticism can be common in all people, including schizoid pd. how do you make a distinction, you can't really, because none of these things can be measured by factual tests and there are too many variables and reasons being things.

i know for a fact that adhd and all these chemical imbalance theorists are wrong, why? i myself fit probably several personality disorders and commorbid problems, and took an MRI, PET, and EEG brain scans and several blood tests with normal results. what does this mean? chemical imbalances in terms of being the reason behind disorders, etc, is NOT true, same goes for nutrition, anyone who says that there are differences in the adhd brain or blah blah blah, are just brainwashed or just not providing meaningful info. i myself believe more in nature perspective of things vs nurture, most things in life are the way they are because of nature, as nature itself describes HOW things will turn out, nurture itself is just what is happening, not WHY things happen. unless you got hit in the head really really hard or been severely abused physically or mentally, its not because of nurture for the way you turned out or the way you always were...,just to give a list, here is a list below of what conditions i STRONGLY fit:

. ADHD ( any of the types )
. sct ( sluggish cognitive tempo ) or cdd ( concentration deficit disorder )
. covert narcissism
. schizoid personality disorder ( covert subtype, basically fitting every bulletin criteria on wikipedia ), also i fit the "high level schizoid" or "higher level schizoid" descriptions extremely close, mentioned in the below link -
dependent-personality/topic12768.html
. schizotypal personality disorder ( only condition to which i did not self diagnose but the results came from a professional assessment by a psychologist, also on same testing, he put down major depressive disorder ), the below site is just a random writing by someone, what the person mentioned on true schizotypal personality disorder is something i can relate to 100 percent, probably on other descriptions too ) -
http://theschizoid.livejournal.com/21736.html

the only things missing now is to see how much others can relate to me and to know their mbti type and eneagram type.

Homerpug wrote:Any information or clarification on what a person feels who has this schizoid personality disorder would be appreciative. Just looking for some kind of feedback I guess.

Hi. I'm new and not officially diagnosed as SPD but I can somewhat relate to your son. I just really don't like being in the same room with another person/people. Don't know why. And it's really stupid to ask "who's that person talking" when you know he's talking to his internet friends. And it's not nice to interrupt. At least that's what I think.
And about those questions. I think "I don't know" might be the best answer for you. At least it's better than a "No". I mean if he answer "yes" you'll have a point to convince him to attend the wedding and I'm sure he knows that. And I think it's generally difficult for someone who's generally introvert to say something about "love". And I'm glad you're okay with who he is.

Just my opinion.

user03 wrote:

pandora64 wrote:Nineteen,

General question: Can you be schizoid PD and have great difficulty accepting criticism? For instance, if you call them Stinky go take a bath...will they flip out on you and call u all sorts of names and take things too much to heart? my ex SO can be any one of these PD's incl. AvPD, BPD, PPD, and definitely Schizoid. How do you make the distinction? Thanks.

honestly, i feel like most people just don't understand personality disorders. There are actually descriptions and things that are very clear in the schizoid frame, yet most people don't realize it or bring it up. what you described of someone who is sensitive and has difficulty accepting criticism can be common in all people, including schizoid pd. how do you make a distinction, you can't really, because none of these things can be measured by factual tests and there are too many variables and reasons being things. .....

the only things missing now is to see how much others can relate to me and to know their mbti type and eneagram type.

One of the older DSMs (III? IV?) provided a list of possible symptoms of SPD - seven, I think - and said that a person had to have at least four to get the diagnosis. This would mean that it is completely possible for someone to get an SPD diagnosis and still be sensitive to criticism.

I realized my mother was almost certainly SPD when I saw that list and checked off every single item (except the sexuality one) as typical of her, 100% of the time. Most people, though, are more nuanced. IMHO.