SCHIZOID PERSONALITY DISORDER

Causes

As with most mental disorders, the causes of schizoid personality disorder are complex. They most likely consist of genetic and biochemical factors, as well as individual and family-related factors (parents may either be emotionally cold toward the child or, conversely, overbearing and too involved in the child’s affairs) and environmental factors. What is certain is that personality disorders develop in childhood and that mentally abnormal thoughts and behaviors become increasingly ingrained in adulthood.

Symptoms

A person suffering from schizoid personality disorder is characterized by:

• Detachment from reality. The person lives in the world of their own experiences and becomes absorbed in dreams and fantasies;
• Emotional coldness and inability to express emotions. However, this is only an appearance. A person with this disorder truly desires emotional closeness and a relationship with someone else, but is afraid of being dominated. Therefore, relationships with another person seem threatening. Hence the emotional distance;
• Antisocial attitude. The person is unable to form close relationships and feels uncomfortable in company. As a result, there are no friends or acquaintances;
• Lack of sensitivity. People with a schizoid personality may be perceived as insensitive, but in fact they are characterized by above-average sensitivity, which they hide;
• Little interest in sexual experiences;
• Lack of awareness of social norms;
• Advocating views that differ from those of most people;
• Indifference to praise and criticism;
• Anhedonia – lack or loss of the ability to feel pleasure.

Diagnosis

Psychiatrists base their diagnosis of this personality type on the following criteria:

• Not wanting to have or enjoy close relationships, including being part of a family;
• Almost always choosing solitary activities;
• Little or no interest in sexual experiences with other people;
• Taking pleasure in few, if any, activities;
• Having no close friends or confidants other than immediate family members;
• Feeling indifferent to praise or criticism from others;
• Showing emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affect.

Treatment

In the treatment process, supportive psychotherapy is often used, focusing on aspects such as the ability to cope with one’s own problems, improving social skills and interactions, interpersonal communication, or self-esteem. People with schizoid traits tend to overlook certain personality-related difficulties that prevent them from receiving stimuli from their environment and shaping their life experience appropriately. The way they perceive events only increases their fear of emotional intimacy and limits their interactions with other people. Their reserve limits opportunities to improve social skills and behaviors that make effective interpersonal relationships possible. Socialization groups may help people with a schizoid personality. Educational practices in which people with schizoid traits learn to recognize their positive and negative emotions may also be effective. Such recognition enables patients to understand their own emotions and the emotions they may observe in others, allowing them to empathize with other people. Such practices enable people with schizoid traits to develop empathy toward the outside world.