Schizotypal personality disorder belongs to a gaggle of disorders colloquially often called “eccentric” personality disorders. People with these disorders often appear strange or strange to others. They can also exhibit unusual thought patterns and behaviors.
What are personality disorders?
People with personality disorders have long-standing patterns of considering and acting that differ from what society considers usual or normal. Their rigid personality traits could cause problems and interfere with many areas of life, including social life and work. People with significant personality disorders also generally have poor coping skills and difficulty forming healthy relationships.
Unlike individuals with anxiety disorders who know they’ve an issue but cannot control it, individuals with personality disorders are sometimes unaware that they’ve an issue and don’t imagine they’ll control anything.
People with schizotypal personality disorder have strange behaviors, speech patterns, thoughts, and perceptions. Other people often describe her as strange or eccentric. People affected by this disorder can also:
- Dress, speak, or behave in strange or unusual ways
- Be suspicious and paranoid
- Feeling uncomfortable or anxious in social situations because you might be suspicious of others
- Have few friends
- Feel very uncomfortable with intimacy
- Tend to misinterpret reality or have distorted perception (e.g. mistaking sounds for voices)
- Have strange beliefs or magical considering (for instance, being overly superstitious or believing yourself to be psychic)
- Engage in imagination and daydreaming
- Tend to be stiff and awkward when coping with others
- Appear emotionally distant, aloof, or cold
- Have limited emotional reactions or appear “flat”
People with schizotypal personality disorder could have strange beliefs or superstitions. They find it difficult to form close relationships and are inclined to distort reality. In this manner, schizotypal personality disorder can appear to be a light type of schizophrenia, a severe brain disorder that distorts the way in which an individual thinks, acts, expresses feelings, perceives reality, and pertains to others.
People with schizophrenia are disconnected from reality. You could have delusions and see or hear things that usually are not there (hallucinations). However, this just isn’t the case for individuals with schizotypal personality disorder.
In rare cases, schizophrenia can occur in individuals with schizotypal personality disorder.
Your genes could play a task in schizotypal personality disorder. It is more common in relatives of individuals with schizophrenia and frequently begins in early maturity. An individual's temperament, reactions to life events, relationships, and coping strategies likely have something to do with how their personality develops during childhood and adolescence.
If you may have symptoms, your doctor will ask about your medical history and should perform a physical exam. There aren’t any laboratory tests to diagnose personality disorders, but your doctor may use other tests to rule out a physical illness because the reason for the symptoms.
They may recommend that you simply see a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other health care skilled trained to diagnose and treat mental health conditions. Psychiatrists and psychologists, in addition to another medical professionals, use specialized interview and assessment tools to diagnose personality disorders.
People with schizotypal personality disorder rarely receive treatment for the disorder itself. When they go to the doctor, it is commonly for a related disorder, equivalent to depression or anxiety. Your treatment may include:
psychotherapy
Psychotherapy – a type of counseling – is essentially the most common treatment. The symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder could make it difficult to develop a relationship with a therapist. But over time, you and your doctor can set shared goals and work toward them.
The goal of therapy is to provide help to change your relationship styles, expectations, coping patterns, and habits of thought and behavior. People with this disorder can often learn to acknowledge after they are distorting reality.
Psychotherapy may include:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)which shows you the way other people might view your behavior and helps you cope with anxiety and improve your social skills.
- Supportive therapy. This teaches you how one can cope with negative emotions or thoughts, trust people and construct relationships.
- Supportive-expressive therapy. This will provide help to eliminate negative stereotypes about relationships. You will talk openly about your thoughts, feelings and concerns.
- Family therapy. Treatment works best when members of the family are involved and supported.
Medication
People with schizotypal personality disorder who even have one other disorder, equivalent to anxiety or depression, may take medication. But it's normally not the principal treatment for personality disorders.
Your doctor may prescribe the next:
In some cases, particularly in times of crisis or high stress, symptoms could also be severe and require a brief hospital stay.
Lifestyle management
Things in your day by day life that may provide help to manage symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder include:
- Healthy relationships with family and friends
- A daily schedule with loads of sleep and exercise
- Take your medication as prescribed
- Opportunities to attain goals or achieve success at school, work, or recreational activities
People with this disorder may experience anxiety or depression more often. They also are inclined to have poor social skills and lack fulfilling relationships. Without treatment, individuals with this disorder may feel much more uncomfortable in social situations, which might result in further isolation.
Your prognosis is dependent upon how severe the symptoms are. People who’re motivated to vary, seek treatment, and persist with it have higher outcomes.