Causes, signs and treatment of schizoid personality disorder. Schizoid personality disorder

obsessive-compulsive

psychopathic (antisocial)

hysterical

depressive and manic

masochistic

The term "schizoid" describes a person whose sense of self is diminished, whose ego is weak and whose contact with the body and with the feelings is greatly weakened. There is a split between one’s own “I” and the surrounding world; between the experienced self and desire. A feeling of detachment from some part of oneself or from life in general.

Famous schizoid personalities:

Such people:

• they exist in parallel, as it were, in two realities - internal and external. The schizoid spends most of his time in his inner world, at the first opportunity, escaping there from harsh reality. He is of little interest in the external side of life - he lives in the world of his ideas, does only what interests him, not noticing anyone or anything around him. While in his refuge, he indulges in thoughts and fantasies: he invents bicycles, fights windmills, constructs abstract theories, creates time machines, travels through parallel worlds. Often he does not set great goals for himself and does not achieve success - the thinking process itself, scientific research - is much more important to him than the result. And, nevertheless, all the main discoveries and inventions created by humanity belong precisely to these brilliant “cranks” and “scientific crackers”... More than others, they turn out to be “outsiders”, observers, researchers of human existence.
• isolation is a basic personality trait. The core characteristic of this type of character is withdrawal into oneself, the inability to establish meaningful, emotionally interpersonal relationships.
• schizoid is uncommunicative , he doesn’t let many people into his soul, often limiting himself to only formal contacts. He rarely makes a sensitive listener and a good comforter - the global problems of humanity occupy him much more than the suffering of individual people. It is extremely difficult for him to understand the grief or joy of his neighbor.
• intuition is his weakest point: The schizoid does not “feel” the interlocutor, does not pick up on someone else’s mood, does not understand who treats him and how. He may turn out to be superfluous in the company, irritate those present, cause ridicule, but he does not always understand this. In turn, a schizoid can also easily hurt someone’s feelings in a conversation, but will not notice it at all.
• main protection - retreat into the inner world, into the world of imagination . The inner world of a schizoid, filled with bizarre fantasies, is closed to outsiders. He is a thing in himself. It is not for nothing that the famous German psychiatrist Kretschmer likened schizoids to “Roman houses devoid of decoration, villas whose shutters are closed from bright light, but in the twilight of their inner chambers luxurious feasts are celebrated...”
• crave intimacy even though they feel the constant threat of being swallowed up by others. They establish distance to maintain their safety, but at the same time suffer from distance and loneliness. The alienation from which schizoid people suffer so much stems in part from the experience that their emotional, intuitive and sensual capabilities have not been sufficiently appreciated - others simply do not see what they are doing.
• concerned with the need to avoid the danger of being absorbed, sucked, chewed, attached, eaten. The surrounding world is felt as a space full of consuming, distorting, destructive forces that threaten security and individuality.
• they are perplexed: how can everyone else deceive themselves so successfully if the harsh truth of life is so obvious.
• dispassionate, ironic and slightly contemptuous attitude towards others
• can be very caring towards other people, although they continue to need to maintain a protective personal space.
• They cannot be called completely unemotional - coldness and inaccessibility in communication with people can be combined with a strong attachment to animals. They may be distinguished by a passion for some non-human science, for example, mathematics or astronomy, where they are able to give the world creative ideas of high value. The statements may convey unexpected warmth towards people whom they know little or have not seen for a very long time. They are characterized by fascination with inanimate objects and metaphysical structures that have attracted their interest.
• Often drawn to those who have opposing, enviable aspirations, schizoids are often attracted to warm, expressive, sociable people, for example, hysterical personalities.
• suffer from significant Anxiety about basal safety (a feeling of one’s own insecurity, weakness, helplessness, insignificance in this treacherous, attacking, humiliating, evil, full of envy and abuse world). Feeling depressed, they hide - either by literally going into reclusion or by immersing themselves in their fantasies.
• sexually some schizoid people turn out to be amazing indifferent , often despite the ability to function and have an orgasm. The closer the Other, the stronger the fear that sex means a trap. Partners of schizoid individuals sometimes complain that their way of loving is mechanical or dispassionate.
• The most adaptive and exciting ability of schizoid personalities is their creativity. The more disturbed individuals in this category reside in their own personal hell, where their potential abilities are consumed by fear and detachment. The sublimation of autistic withdrawal into creative activity is the main goal of therapy with schizoid patients.
• the self-esteem of people with schizoid dynamics is often maintained individual creative activity. At the same time, it is the aspects of personal integrity and self-expression that turn out to be more important for them, and not the aspect of self-esteem. The schizoid strives for confirmation of its exceptional originality and uniqueness. Confirmation must be internal rather than external, and, thanks to high standards in creativity, schizoids are often sharply self-critical.
• accumulated perceptions of the patient as exceptional, unique, misunderstood genius or unattainable sage
• not particularly concerned with whether they are right or wrong from a generally accepted point of view.
• characterized by frequent enthusiasm for various philosophies, ideas for improving the world, schemes for building a healthy lifestyle (through unusual diets, sports activities), especially if this does not require direct dealing with other people.
• There may be a high risk of addiction to drugs and alcohol for pleasure.
• schizoid does not know how to present himself in a favorable light, not distinguished by eloquence . Awkward, unnatural, with poor facial expressions, he often speaks in a monotonous, expressionless voice, making giant pauses between words. All this, of course, does not facilitate mutual understanding between him and the people around him. It is very difficult to understand a schizoid: there is “porridge” in his mouth, there is confusion in his words, he uses clever terms and does not try to be understandable. A typical example: the schizoid Hegel, who lectured to the only student who signed up with him, Ludwig Feierbach.
• Self-absorbed schizoid cares little about what he looks like. A jacket with torn buttons and frayed elbows, trousers “bubbling” at the knees, mismatched socks, worn-out shoes, and half-rotten shoes are quite in his style. Hair that has not been washed for a long time, sloppily trimmed nails, and ridiculous, out-of-fashion clothes, often worn inside out, complete his portrait. A typical schizoid is a sort of absent-minded Man from Basseynaya Street, who, instead of a hat, in a hurry, pulled a frying pan on his head, and “instead of felt boots, he pulled gloves onto his heels.”
• By physique they are most often ectomorphs

. (relatively short upper body, long arms and legs, narrow feet and hands, as well as a small torso and relatively narrow shoulders. Ectomorphs usually have long, thin muscles that grow very slowly, and very limited fat reserves) Examples from life:

Archimedes was so absorbed in science that he sometimes forgot to eat, drink and sleep. Wherever he was and whatever he did, the great inventor did not interrupt his scientific thoughts. While washing in the bathhouse, he thoughtfully drew geometric shapes on his oiled body, sitting in front of the fireplace, he drew circles and triangles on the ash with a twig. When one day, while swimming, he accidentally discovered the law of fluid displacement, he became uncontrollably delighted. With a cry of “Eureka!” he jumped out of the bathroom and ran, in his mother's clothes, through the streets of Syracuse.
Archimedes hurried home to quickly try out his famous theory, which was later so remarkably confirmed. And what the respectable townspeople would think about him running around the city naked was of little concern to the famous scientist.
The schizoid is the same: he lives in the world of his ideas, doing only what interests him, not noticing anyone or anything around him.

There is a legend that in his youth, Einstein, being poor and unknown to anyone, always wore the same stretched out old sweater. “Does it matter? Nobody knows me here,” the scientist who had just arrived in America responded to the critical remarks of others. When, having become rich and famous, he never parted with his holey cast-offs, he motivated it differently: “What's the difference? Everyone already knows me”...

Once upon a time there lived a very shy British lord, Henry Cavendish. He avoided women, communicated with servants using notes, and in order to avoid interfering with maids, he always went down the attached external staircase. But Cavendish rarely went out into the world: he kept writing something in his hole, conducting experiments and taking notes, putting them on the table. And then he died. Cavendish was buried according to his will: they walled him up tightly in a crypt and left no inscription indicating who was buried here. Not a single portrait remained after the lord, but an archive was found: 20 thick notebooks. Having sorted them out, scientists realized that Cavendish was a great physicist and chemist, all of his works were published and now every physics student knows the name of this schizoid.

To diagnose schizoid disorders personalities the condition must correspond to at least four of the following qualities or behavioral patterns:
1) only a few activities bring joy;
2) emotional coldness, distance
3) reduced ability to express warm, tender feelings or anger towards others;
4) external indifference to the praise and criticism of others;
5) decreased interest in sexual experiences with other people (taking into account age);
6) almost constant preference for solitary activities;
7) excessive depth in fantasy and introspection;
8) lack of close friends (at best, no more than one) or trusting relationships and reluctance to have them;
9) clearly insufficient consideration of social norms and requirements, frequent unintentional deviations from them.

"Handbook of a practical psychologist" by I.G. Malkina-Pykh. //The newest directory of a psychologist//Moscow, Eksmo 2010

People with this personality type are not uncommon. Among them there are geniuses who are the driving force behind the development of civilization, and types who have completely cut themselves off from the world (a form of schizophrenia).

We will leave psychiatric patients outside the scope of this article, and will give information about healthy people. We’ll also talk a little about the borderline state between normality and pathology, i.e. about schizoid personality disorder.

What is this

The main psychological characteristic of such a person is complete or partial isolation from the real world, isolation into oneself and underdevelopment of the emotional sphere.

The experiences and feelings of people of this type are multifaceted. There are too many of them, they overwhelm a person, but he does not let them out and does not show emotions. Usually people with such a mental organization are convinced that they are completely free from the conventions and traditions of society.

They try to isolate themselves from society and treat others arrogantly. Their usual position is “no one can tell me”, “I am God and the master of life”, etc.

People of this type are poor comforters and not empathetic listeners. They find it difficult to feel compassion for others or to be happy for anyone.

Often the epithets eccentric, strange, and reserved are applied to a person with such a personality organization.

Causes

Often the reason for the formation of a personality of the schizoid type is mental trauma (threat to life or loss of a sense of security) received at different stages of development.

During the prenatal period

1. Example (A). The child’s mother, his father and other relatives want to terminate the pregnancy, that is, they want this child not to be born. The energy of anger and rejection emanates from them. And the fetus perceives these flows of energy, affecting it negatively. As a result, blockages appear that interrupt the interconnection of organs.
2. Example (B). The mother does not intend to take the child’s life, but is constantly in a stressful situation (moral and physical violence in the family). This also threatens the life of the fetus, and he, trying to preserve it, calms down and hides. Figuratively speaking, he splits himself into pieces. All of the above are prerequisites for the negative feelings that the born toddler begins to experience towards others.

Immediately after birth

If a newborn is immediately taken away from his mother, he may perceive this as a threat to his life - he is left alone in an unfamiliar world, abandoned.

With improper upbringing in the family

Conclusion: the alienation of parents or guardians from the child, as well as the unceremonious imposition of their opinion, often contributes to the fact that the personality begins to develop along a “schizoid” path.

After all, adults are obliged not only to formally take care of their sons or daughters, but also to communicate with them, giving affection and warmth, to instill in children a sense of confidence and security, and to try to understand them.

A child who does not have virtues and friends in the person of his parents begins to look for such a patron and intercessor within himself. This is how he protects individuality so that it is not swallowed up or crushed.

Stages of formation

PRE-SCHOOL YEARS

The first traits of a schizoid character can be noticed in a child already in preschool age (at 3 or 4 years).

SCHOOL YEARS

During school years, such a child does not change much. He does not try to establish contact with classmates and find friends. The child’s self-esteem is high and the opinions of others are of little concern to him.

Most often, he likes purely intellectual communication, the exchange of information, without any emotions. Often such students develop extraordinary abilities in mathematics or literary writing.

Sometimes it seems that the child knows a lot. There is only one thing he cannot do - the language of human relationships.

The child himself, of course, notices that it is difficult for him to establish contacts with other children. That's why he doesn't go for walks.

A child with such a personality organization is completely unemotional and does not show intense joy, sadness or anger. When communicating with him, it is difficult to understand how he perceives your impact on him. Parents often experience childhood coldness (if they themselves are not of the schizoid type).

Such children do not like to kiss and hug their parents and cannot tolerate such affection towards themselves (it is unpleasant for them).

The non-standard character traits of schizoid individuals and their inability to communicate with peers often provoke conflicts with classmates. Usually these eccentrics are destined for the position of outcasts.

Such children do not know how to defend themselves and manipulate others. The role of a leader will be alien to him and little understood in the future.

TEENAGE YEARS

This is the most difficult period for withdrawn children. Intellectual superiority over classmates is good. Constant rejection by peers and inability to establish relationships with them is bad.

A teenager's self-esteem begins to change constantly. It can rise to delusions of grandeur or quickly fall down when the child feels worthless and engages in self-flagellation.

Attempts by parents to invade his inner world are sometimes met with violent protest.

A schizoid teenager will be irritated by many things:

• The parents entered the room and did not knock.
• They touched his things.
• They control their studies.
• They are interested in his life.

Very often, loneliness does not bother teenagers with this type of personality, but their isolation and constant isolation from their peers attracts attention.
Sports activities are not alien to such children. But they will prefer single sports rather than team sports.

What to do and how to treat a withdrawn child

Schizoid personality type

Peculiarities

Adult individuals already have an established character. He is full of contradictions. And it is almost impossible to understand their inner world. What worries such a person, what feelings overwhelm him, what hurts him greatly?

It's hard to say, because outwardly he looks mentally indifferent and cold. It is extremely difficult to understand and imagine how a schizoid type perceives the world.

A small detail that most people wouldn't pay attention to is very significant to him. And, on the contrary, very important facts will not have any meaning for him.

Behavior

A person has an ambivalent attitude towards himself. He is aware of his high intellectual potential. This instills in him feelings of pride and superiority, and sometimes even contempt for others.

However, an absolute lack of understanding of the social relationships in which other people are involved greatly reduces the self-esteem of schizoids.

Their behavior is characterized by the following features:

• Inability to behave even in the simplest situations.
• If people almost openly show their hostility, it is difficult for them to evaluate and understand the situation.
• Their intuition is undeveloped and they cannot resist intrigue and ill-wishers. And if they are treated with sympathy and love, this also remains unnoticed until they are told about it directly and openly.

The art of communication for people with a schizoid character is Chinese literacy, which they are not able to master.

Antipathy to communication is manifested by them in various ways: from timidity and shyness to crude irony and cruelty (if only they would quickly leave them alone). Mutually exclusive traits coexist in a person: stubbornness with pliability, coldness and indifference with vulnerability.

They are characterized by love at first sight. However, in family life they are characterized by everyday inability and indifference to small children, and adultery. They are not easy partners.

The ideal partner for a schizoid is one who will constantly clean up after him and free him from everyday worries: paying bills, planning a budget, raising children.

Appearance

People of the schizoid type are perceived by others as eccentrics and eccentrics.

Their behavior, gait, facial expressions, manners, feelings - everything looks bizarre:

Negative traits

1. Excessive isolation.
2. Inability to empathize and care for others (selfishness).
3. Arrogance on display.
4. Idealization of your ideas and desires.
5. Inability to compromise.
6. Thirst for personal freedom, but deny it to your loved ones.
7. Increased suspicion.
8. Tendency to drug addiction and alcoholism.

Positive features

1. Curiosity, erudition, high intellectual potential.
2. A rich inner world, in which there are many ideas and fantasies.
3. Persistence in solving complex problems.
4. Constant preferences.
5. Respecting the boundaries of someone else's personal space.
6. Commitment to the idea put forward and perseverance in implementing the planned project.

Fears

• On a subconscious level, a schizoid feels as if he will be denied the opportunity to exist, that he will be destroyed, absorbed.
• A lingering feeling of anxiety and the feeling that you are a stranger everywhere and to everyone.
• These negative emotions can lead to feelings of anger, and stress can trigger a personality disorder.

Signs of the disorder

Psychoanalysts consider this disorder as a borderline state between the schizoid personality type and schizophrenia. This disorder is not classified as psychotic (the individual distinguishes between the imaginary world and the real one).

It is believed that with schizoid disorder, a person tends to go into a fantasy world and thus protect himself from the outside world. Moreover, the characteristic personality traits remain intact.

General criteria for personality disorder:

It is difficult to meet a person with an absolutely “pure” character type. As a rule, mixed types are more common. For example, schizoid-hysteroid personality type.

In this case, some features characteristic of hysteroids will be added to the expressed features:

• suggestibility,
• inadequate demonstration of one’s sexuality in behavior and appearance,
• ostentatious character,
• excessive preoccupation with one's attractiveness.

If a person has a paranoid-schizoid personality type, then features characteristic of paranoid types will be added:

• Constant suspicion and mistrust.
• The tendency to shift responsibility from oneself to others.
• Contempt for everything weak and flawed.
• Increased sensitivity to failure and rejection.
• Overestimation of one's own importance.

Professions

Schizoids can engage in various activities that do not involve intense communication. They are found among doctors, scientists, poets, philosophers, as well as eccentric collectors and vagabonds who do not take into account life values.

Examples from history

People with such a character often achieve unprecedented success in their professional activities due to their intelligence and concentration on the tasks they set for themselves. There is a lot of historical evidence of this.

Artists Van Gogh and Salvador Dali. Philosophers Kant and Hegel. Scientists A. Einstein, Mendeleev, Newton. Composers Bach and Beethoven. Poet B. Pasternak. Psychoanalyst S. Freud.

Treatment

People with schizoid disorder rarely seek medical help. And those who still decide to come to the doctor are afraid of the conversation. After all, you don’t really want to reveal your inner world to a stranger.

However, there is nothing to fear. A qualified specialist will never put pressure on you. He clearly understands that one cannot invade a person’s personal space and individual thoughts without asking. By communicating with an experienced doctor, people achieve tangible improvement in their condition.

Medicines. There are no special drugs to treat such disorders. However, your doctor may recommend medications to relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression that accompany the disorder.

Psychotherapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy is used. It is she who helps the patient change his behavior and beliefs that caused the problem. By resorting to such therapy, a person is taught adequate ways to respond to various situations and is helped to cope with the anxiety that appears when it is necessary to communicate with people.

Group therapy. Treatment is most effective in psychotherapeutic groups. Group sessions support the patient and increase social motivation.

For those who realize that their character is close to the schizoid type, psychotherapists recommend:

• Learn to show positive emotions.
• Pay attention to your communication style with loved ones and relatives.
• Remember that moderate restraint is perceived positively by people, but its excessive manifestation is perceived as detachment.
• If you feel that it is difficult to cope with the problem yourself, then do not be afraid to seek help from specialists.

Video: Schizoid type

They are characterized by eccentricities in clothing style, facial expressions, gait and behavior patterns. Reality is not the basis for the perception of the world for those people whose nature is dominated by the schizoid type. Being a phlegmatic person, such a person moves mostly mechanically, pretentiously, shuffling or jumping. This is the case when internal attitudes do not meet the requirements of the outside world.

1. The schizoid character type is distinguished by a complex, fragmented understanding of reality, where little things are attributed great importance, and the key facts of the situation are overlooked as completely unimportant. Such people look for special meaning in things that usually no one pays attention to.

2. Closedness is a distinctive feature of this type. It is sometimes impossible to recognize the emotions raging in the soul of such a person. The marble face, giving off coldness, does not betray inner feelings. A schizoid places his own interests at the basis of his activities, this prevents him from fully communicating with other people. He often behaves tactlessly with his interlocutor and does not take into account the opinions of others. treats new acquaintances with excessive suspicion. An egoist is not capable of sympathy or empathy.

3. These are professionals in a specific narrow specialization. A scientist devotes his entire life to one project. The doctor successfully promotes a specific treatment method, often not recognized by official medicine. These are a kind of geniuses, capable of defending new ideas in science, creating their own. Most collectors are characterized by a schizoid model of behavior, so they seem obsessed with their hobby.

4. In the work community, people who are characterized by a schizoid character type are valued for their unobtrusiveness, strict adherence to business formalities, and independent decision-making. They are held up as examples of business acumen devoid of emotion. They have close friends with whom they communicate throughout their lives. Persons with schizoid traits find it difficult to establish relationships with colleagues at a new place of work. Having just joined the team, such a colleague rejects any attempts by colleagues to penetrate his inner world. The more persistent he is, the deeper he will withdraw into himself.

Persistence and the desire for independence force the schizoid to independently delve into the details of each project. Thus, over time, his qualifications will be higher than those of his work colleagues, although initially in many cases it was possible to simply ask them for advice. It is important to force the schizoid to listen to the opinions of other specialists, then the productivity of the coordinated work of the entire team is guaranteed.

5. Schizoid psychopathy develops if individual signs of schizoidism reach extremes. In this case, the patient becomes impossible. Moderately severe schizoid psychopathy allows the patient, against the background of absolute social inability, to achieve significant results in the field of science or art. A severe form of schizoid psychopathy manifests itself in an irresistible desire to completely protect oneself from communication with people, to remain completely alone.

Experts advise everyone who recognizes a schizoid type of behavior in their character to learn to express it in conversations with relatives and friends. You need to be clearly aware of the line beyond which decent personality traits go to extremes and are perceived negatively by others. Thus, excessive restraint turns into isolation and detachment. An unwavering proactive attitude is an important quality, but communication skills are of particular value in modern society.

The term “schizoid” itself is translated as “split”. This disorder occurs more often in men than in women; Schizoidity can be pronounced or latent. To understand how to interact with such people, you need to take a closer look at their characteristics.

Personality characteristics of a schizoid

The schizoid type of character manifests itself throughout the patient’s life. Symptoms of schizopathy can be recognized from an early age. Early examinations, as well as psychotherapy sessions, significantly increase the chances of recovery and normalization of the patient’s condition. At the same time, there always remains the danger that the symptoms of schizotypal disorder will occasionally manifest themselves to one degree or another.

A schizoid can be recognized by his communication with people, or rather, by the lack thereof. With such a disorder, it is difficult for the patient to express his thoughts, emotions and feelings to other people, which leads to the person focusing on his inner world. For a schizoid it is much more important and valuable than the ordinary physical world.

Personality traits and character develop without receiving external experience from the world. Simply put, schizoids try not to interact with the outside world, preferring to experience it through reading and watching films.

At the same time, such people are often given a diagnosis in absentia: “inability to communicate with people.” This is not entirely true; Schizoids may have friends with whom they feel comfortable. As a rule, they have known each other since childhood, since in adulthood schizoid individuals prefer not to make acquaintances at all.

Development of schizoid states with age

As you know, a huge part of mental problems, pressures, phobias and deviations begin in early childhood. During this period, the child’s psyche is labile and pliable, like soft clay, which leaves a trace of any external influence. Over time, such a psyche gradually “hardens”, and any changes in one’s character become less and less possible.

Schizoid personality disorder (or SPD) manifests itself in the following ways with age:

The listed points characterized a person with congenital schizoid disorder; the acquired forms of this mental disorder in the course of life will be discussed a little below.

Schizoid individuals, despite their detachment, are capable of surpassing ordinary people in terms of career, self-realization and achieving financial success, since their characteristic hard work and perseverance allow them to achieve the highest success in certain, highly specialized fields of science and art.

In modern psychology it is known that there are no absolutely “pure” personality types. People called “schizoids” have signs of not only one mental disorder, but also some other mental disorders.

Schizoid disorder does not manifest itself in full force in all cases. Many who read psychological sites have noticed that most of the signs and symptoms of disorders can be easily found in themselves. Therefore, you need to understand that a mental disorder is diagnosed only when a person exhibits at least several pronounced signs.

There is no need to list all the signs, as they can easily be confused with other types of mental disorders. Schizoid personality type signs some of them are worth mentioning:

1. Internal reluctance to communicate with people, negative attitude towards spending leisure time with a team or group of people.
2. Ignoring people's opinions regarding any sphere (for example, fashion, politics, art, recreation, etc.). What is meant here is not a deliberate disregard for the opinions of others, but a desire to listen only to oneself, since the schizoid personality is not accustomed to trusting other people. Their behavior is also very different from the generally accepted one.
3. Lack of concern for one's appearance. Such people may look sloppy, unathletic, with a belly, or, conversely, be thin. The gait of schizoids is striking, which in no way worries them.
4. A tendency to talk to oneself, not only in the mind, but also out loud. This is not surprising: many schizoids are incredibly well-read and very intelligent people who do not communicate with other people. However, the need to verbalize your thoughts (sometimes in written form) still remains, which leads to lengthy monologues, a sore throat, etc.
5. Lack of emotions or weak emotional response. More precisely, this is how it is seen only from the outside, and schizoids themselves claim that they live a rich emotional life. They just hide them very deeply from others, and they have their own reasons for that.

Psychiatrists still cannot understand what exactly provokes the appearance of this mental disorder. What is especially interesting is that there are actually very few schizoids with a congenital disorder - the occurrence of schizopathy depends on many hereditary factors.

The main part acquires this disorder in the course of their life, as a unique response to the influences of the outside world. This is why it is important to consider the possible causes of schizoid disorder in people.

What leads to the emergence of schizotypal traits

Avoidance of communication and interaction with people around (including close relatives) can be triggered by the fact that the child had extensive negative experience communicating with people in childhood. As a result, he subconsciously tries to distance himself from painful experiences, because he is accustomed to believing that any communication is a source of unpleasant emotions.

The schizoid discovers that when he is alone, he is not in danger. Naturally, dependence on this state appears, and the fear of losing it. Since the interests of schizoids are narrowly limited (to their profession or a single hobby), they have nothing to talk about even with their parents, brothers or sisters.

The difficulty of treating schizoid individuals lies not in the specifics of therapy, and not in the selection of medications (although this is also important), but in the fact that the person himself does not consider it necessary to treat himself. He lives outside of society, and he likes this lifestyle. And if the patient himself does not want his recovery, then what will the doctor do?

How to communicate with schizoid personalities

Nevertheless, if you wish, you can find such an approach to a schizoid in order to still make him more contactable and talkative. To do this, you can use the tips below.

• Do not use the imperative mood in communication! “Talk to me,” “don’t isolate yourself,” and similar phrases should be eliminated. This should be a dialogue, and without the slightest sign of pressure. The topic of conversation can be freely chosen; The main thing is that a person does not feel like at school when they try to explain something to him.
• Any interaction with a schizoid should be positive - after all, the main goal of such manipulations is for him to gradually learn to express his emotions in conversation. We need to make it clear to the person that he is accepted for who he is. At first, it is better not to use touches until an atmosphere of trust arises.
• It is necessary to ask a person less often about what he is doing, and more often to be interested in his internal state, what he feels, etc. It is this state that the schizotypal personality hides from others, so you need to ask him as gently as possible to talk about his experiences.

How is schizoidism treated?

It is worth noting that full treatment is prescribed, as a rule, to those people who have serious mental disorders, expressed in the appearance of anxiety, paranoia, degradation of mental abilities, as well as severe depressive syndrome.

Psychiatrists, depending on the severity of schizoid psychopathy, offer several treatment options:

• Medication(with the help of tablets) removes the main symptoms of the disease, and also relieves excess mental stress.
• Thanks to group therapy The schizoid learns to express his thoughts verbally, and also gets used to other people like himself.
• Most often, the patient is prescribed to attend sessions psychotherapy. On them, the patient masters the skills necessary for independent work on himself, as well as those necessary for entering society.
• If the disease has not yet had time to manifest itself detrimentally, then the patient is prescribed consultation with a psychologist, which determines the patient's further treatment plan.

Known schizoids

The geniuses who move civilization forward, as is known, are sometimes separated from madness by a very thin, barely noticeable boundary, so it is not surprising that among them there were people with a variety of deviations. Famous schizoids were people such as Arthur Schopenhauer, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Salvador Dali, Dmitri Mendeleev, Isaac Newton, and many others.

In everyday life, we often meet people with “oddities” in behavior, but their “peculiar” features do not take on the character of an illness, and they are not mentally ill.

How to distinguish a deviation (originality) of character - schizoid personality traits, schizoid personality disorder (psychopathy) - from a serious pathology, schizophrenia?

Schizoid personality type (schizoid personality traits)

Schizoid personality traits persist throughout life. But favorable life circumstances and environment can enable such a person to be adapted in the family and society, to develop professionally and to be fully socialized.

The schizoid personality type is characterized by a predominance of mental abilities over emotional ones. This creates a personality that is guided by ideas rather than feelings. Emotionally, they are vulnerable, sensitive and not syntonic, which gives rise to their clumsiness in communication. And using their intellectual capabilities, they strive to distance themselves from their social circle. They are characterized by unusual, rare hobbies, sports, and they study rare languages. Hence the nickname among schizoids - “eccentrics”. Outwardly cold in communication, they describe themselves as follows: “I’m like a drop of hot wine in a glass of ice.”

All schizoid individuals are characterized by social avoidance, which manifests itself already at the age of 4-5 years. Such children do not play with their peers, prefer solitude, and their parents do not evoke the proper emotional response in them. At school age, unusual intellectual abilities often appear. Schizoid people have introverted, non-standard, original thinking; they have their own idea of ​​the world, and their answers are often discouraging. At the same time, the movements of such children are rough, constrained, and clumsy. This does not apply to fine manual skills such as playing the piano, making handicrafts, or painting. Therefore, individuals with a schizoid bias can become brilliant musicians or artists.

By the age of 10-11, children gradually adapt to the external environment. They find a small number of friends with whom they communicate. There can be formal relationships with other people without emotional attachment. However, any opportunity to communicate or join a team is associated with tension and a feeling of discomfort.

The schizoid personality type is often combined with a characteristic somatotype - these people, as a rule, are tall, motorically clumsy, guided in life by their intellectual constructs, and are capable of extreme devotion to any idea. There is information that Hitler’s guards were recruited based on the criterion of having schizoid traits. Features such as bizarre hobbies and emotional non-syntonity give them a formal resemblance to patients with schizophrenia, although in essence, the schizoid personality type has nothing in common with schizophrenic illness. And in the premorbid period (the period before the onset/onset of the disease), a schizoid character is rarely found among patients with schizophrenia.

Schizoid personality disorder (schizoid psychopathy)

We can talk about schizoid psychopathy (schizoid personality disorder) in cases where acute character traits are so expressed that they meet the criteria of totality, i.e. manifest themselves in any life situation without being adequate to it, and, as a result, social maladjustment occurs.

Schizophrenia

If we talk about such a disease as schizophrenia, then it should be noted that this mental pathology is accompanied by:

• negative symptoms (apathy, dissociation, autism),
• positive symptoms (hallucinations, delusions, catatonic symptoms),
• proceeds with the formation of apatho-dissociative personality defect,
• requires drug treatment.

Patients suffering from schizophrenia are immersed in their unhealthy inner world. They live in their own experiences while ignoring reality, which has nothing to do with the outside world. Their thinking is not only autistic, but also paralogical, and then it becomes divorced from reality, and their judgments do not lend themselves to any correction and logical arguments.

Often in patients with schizophrenia, “ blockages" and interruptions of thoughts (sperrungs). He notes that “he feels empty and lack of thoughts in his head.” There may also be a “stream of thoughts (mentism), where there are many uncontrollable thoughts that do not meet the given needs and situation (“off topic”).

When thinking is impaired, people suffering from schizophrenia are characterized by the phenomenon "thought slippage". The patient talks about one situation, and a moment later describes a completely different one. For example, to the question: “What is the difference between a doll and a woman?”, the patient answers: “The doll is made of plastic, but it is alive. Everything in the world is alive. If the stone were dead, it would have disintegrated long ago.”

People with schizophrenia are characterized by disorders of thinking (delusions) and perception (hallucinations), catatonic motor disorders, which never occur in individuals with schizoid psychopathy.

Delusion is when a person with schizophrenia is convinced of something that does not correspond to reality, and it is impossible to dissuade him of this. These are delusions of jealousy, persecution, relationship, damage, influence, greatness, etc.

Hallucinations can be visual, auditory, tactile, etc.

A person with schizophrenia perceives these images as truth. He integrates them into the framework of his delusional thoughts. If an ordinary person can believe in magic, aliens and paranormal phenomena, then when he actually sees, hears and touches them, this already indicates illness.

As the disease progresses, such people become apathetic; it is difficult for them to study, work, and communicate. They lose their professional skills, their incompetence increases, although their intelligence is not formally impaired.

With the right approach and medication correction, a patient with schizophrenia can return to normal life, continue to work or study. He may develop criticism towards painful experiences and illness, and he can establish contacts with others.