Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Schizotypal personality disorder is rare. As the name suggests, it is considered a personality disorder and can be placed in the context of schizophrenia disorder.

People affected by this disorder usually do not have a particularly rich social life. Also, emotional poverty is common in this disorder. This means that the person does not express their positive feelings and emotions very well. This, of course, further complicates their social relationships.

People with schizotypal personality disorder often feel a generalized fear (typical of schizophrenia). For example, they fear the paranormal.

Low self-esteem is also typical of this disorder. Affected people experience general mental distress.

Common features of schizotypal personality disorder

According to author Jorge Castelló, people with schizotypal personality disorder have the following characteristics:

• Social distance more or less evident.
• Emotional blockage or poor expression and perception of feelings.
• Beliefs that lead to a misinterpretation of the behavior of others towards them.
• Belief that the relationships are dangerous. Suspicion and mistrust are very common.
• Unusual perceptual experiences. They are not even hallucinations, being described as “feelings of presence” (a feeling of having someone or something with the person when they are alone, often as if they were watching them).
• Eccentric behavior and physical appearance.
• Beliefs that are not delusions, but that are similar to them. They are often thoughts about the paranormal, about imaginary external threats, about occult forces, “energies”, strange abilities or powers.

nuclear symptoms

The features just described are general. Next, we’ll talk about so-called “nuclear” symptoms, that is, symptoms that persist in a person suffering from schizotypal personality disorder.

interpersonal distancing

The person tends to distance themselves from the social context. Why does she do this? Because he considers interpersonal relationships dangerous. Unlike a person suffering from paranoid personality disorder, she doesn’t plan revenge, she doesn’t fight back. However, in both disorders, affected people have constant suspicion and mistrust (1).

It must not be easy for these people to deal with the thought of being mocked or ridiculed. This is how people with schizotypal personality disorder live: with paranoid suspicions, which drives them to distance themselves from others.

detachment from reality

In addition to paranoid ideas about their environment, the person may have other sensations that can distance them from reality. At times, she may have the feeling that something hidden is affecting her life. 

This “hidden something” can be described as “energies”, “spirits” or have more elaborate explanations. For example, beliefs about telepathy and mind control by the schizotypal person or others in relation to him are frequent.

Schizotypal personality disorder can also cause the affected person to have delusions. She can see faces where they don’t exist or feel presences, even when alone.

It is also common for a person with this disorder to be considered socially “strange”. It is possible that she dresses in ways considered unconventional.

psychic suffering

Typically, the person suffering from schizotypal personality disorder has low self-esteem, constant fear, and does not relate emotionally to those around them.

Furthermore, she does not show a great interest in social relationships, tending to limit them.

Thus,  she has a limited friendship network, which is the cause and consequence of her lack of interest in social relationships. It can be said that the fear of social relationships affects her self-concept, leading her to think that she deserves to be marginalized.

In this sense, it should be noted that the lack of affection can aggravate other symptoms that she may present, accentuating her suffering.

Conclusion on schizotypal personality disorder

Although it is a rare disorder, it is important to know the defining characteristics of schizotypal personality disorder. It differs from schizophrenia in terms of intervention, which must involve an integrative therapeutic approach not limited to drugs.