Schizoid personality disorder is a disorder in which people tend to keep to themselves and do not wish to interact with too many people. They are often known to be introverted and shy. They are usually bad at reading social cues and may be seen to be too serious. They tend to over think and over analyze their thoughts rather than acting them out. It is a problem for many people who have this disorder because it effects their abilities to interact with people and thus are not able to get the maximum out of life. Unfortunately the reason why this occurs in some people rather than others is not known.
Symptoms of the disorder
This personality disorder makes people fear social situation and have an inability to interact normally. If you have this disorder it is possible that:
- You often choose to be alone and do activities that require only one person.
- You usually only rely on yourself and have a few good friends in your social circle.
- You are unable to decide how best to react to social situations.
- You do not have a lot of things to say when in a conversation.
- You do not feel the need to have sexual relations.
- You believe that you are unable to feel happiness.
- Other people think of you as someone who is indifferent.
- You are not that productive because of a lack of motivation.
- You usually follow other peoples’ leads rather than initiate conversations or plans on your own.
A lot of these symptoms would probably have been seen throughout your childhood as well. If you happen to have schizoid personality disorder it is likely that you have a difficult time initiating conversations with strangers and you might not know how to form close bonds with people.
Schizophrenic Disorder in relation to Schizoid Disorder
These two are closely related due to some common symptoms, such as being socially awkward or being unable to perform well in social situations as opposed to an average person. In both of them people have a problem with living proper lives because they do not seem to be making social connections and have an inability to fully show their emotions. However, there is a clear difference between the two, for example people with schizophrenia tend to have unrealistic thoughts about how the world is run, they may have hallucinations or delusions.
There are two types of symptoms associated with schizophrenia, the negative symptoms are the ones closely related with schizoid disorder but the positive ones such as delusions are not associated with schizoid disorder. Comparatively, people with schizoid disorder are known to be more rational and are able to tell the difference between what is real or unreal.
When to seek medical advice
Since schizoid disorder is a personality disorder, it is best to initiate its treatment in the early stages of your life, or as soon as possible.
If it is believed that you may have the disorder it is best to make plans and to go get checked or kept under provision, it is difficult for some people, especially in this case, where they might have too much anxiety about going to a professional. Try to have a loved one or someone you trust to be with you so that you feel safer.
If you are worrying for a loved one it is best to be careful in choosing your words when trying to convince them to get checked for the disorder. Offer them your help and give them support, put yourself in their shoes and try to give them the support you would have wanted if you were going through such a stage in your life.
Treatment
Treatments would include having to go to a therapist, getting medication, going through psychotherapy or facing group therapy with other people having the same problem.
Therapy will have to be with a professional who understands what people with this disorder go through and have the patience to wait for the patient to open up to them, no matter how long it takes.
Medication would include helping in treating the undesired symptoms and feelings or anxiety or depression.
In psychotherapy the aim is to change the way a person thinks and thus responds to social situations. It will focus on the improving the person’s behavior towards others and getting them to get less anxious in social settings.
Group therapy is helpful because it will give people with this disorder an ability to understand that they are not alone, and that if other people can focus on trying to improve themselves, so can they. It builds sort of a support system, which is useful especially for people who do not have strong support from their loved ones.
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