schizoid personality disorder

Schizoid personality disorder

Schizoid personality disorder (SzPD or ScPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, reservedness, emotional coldness, detachment, and apathy. Affected individuals may be unable to form intimate attachments to others and simultaneously possess a rich and elaborate but exclusively internal fantasy world. Other associated features include stilted speech, a lack of deriving enjoyment from most activities, feeling as though one is an "observer" rather than a participant in life, an intolerance towards meeting emotional expectations of others, apparent indifference when praised or criticized, being on the asexual spectrum, and idiosyncratic moral or political beliefs. Symptoms typically start in late childhood or adolescence. According to research, SzPD is often correlated to a neglective childhood environment, genetics and neurological conditions in the brain; although the main cause of SzPD is uncertain. Some evidence show links and shared genetic risks between SzPD, schizophrenia, and other cluster "A" personality disorders. Thus, SzPD is considered to be a "schizophrenia-like personality disorder". It is diagnosed through clinical observation, and because SzPD often share similar symptoms with other types of disorders (such as autism spectrum disorder, which symptoms may overlap with symptoms of SzPD), it can be very difficult to distinguish SzPD from other mental disorders or conditions. The effectiveness of psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatments for the disorder...