Symptoms and signs of schizoid personality type

Each person has individual characteristics of character, and the combination of some of them gives the opportunity determine his personality type.

The main signs of the schizoid personality type are reticence, detachment, emotional coldness, and lack of expression. They are smart and have atypical interests.

General information

Schizoid - what is it in psychology and who is schizoid? Schizoid personality type can not be considered pathological, despite the fact that most people schizoids seem a little faddish.

Schizoid type enters character accentuation classification along with other types, such as conformal, sensitive, astheno-neurotic and others.

Accentuation - a personality feature that is within the boundaries of the medical norm, in which part of the characteristics are expressed excessively, therefore a person belonging to a certain type of accentuation is more vulnerable when exposed to certain conditions and more stable when exposed to others.

Such people, for example, partially predisposed to the development of certain mental illnessesbecause they have an increased sensitivity in some aspects, but accentuation in itself is not a mental illness.

People with a schizoid personality type are able to achieve success in creative professions, in intellectual and research spheres, but it is more difficult for them than for other people to express their emotions and communicate.

Accentuations are compared with personality disorders. The line between them is really thinbut there are a number of differences between accentuation and disorder:

Personality disorder affects all areas of a person’s life: he reacts in a certain way to any psychogenic situation, whereas a person with an accentuation reacts only to certain situations.
Accentuations are pronounced only in certain periods of a person’s life, but, as a rule, they soften over time. This does not happen with personality disorder.
Accentuations usually do not become the cause of desocialization - the loss of social experience, without which the existence of a person in society is difficult or impossible - or lead to it for a short period of time, and personality disorder continuously complicates the social life of a person.

Schizoid personality disorder (previously called schizoid psychopathy) is much stronger than schizoid accentuation, but has a similar characteristic.

People with this disorder:

uncommunicative;
suspended from society;
practically not interested in creating close social connections;
love to dream, talk;
live in their inner world and rarely leave it;
have a narrow range of emotions;
poorly adapted to the domestic side of life;
have developed abstract thinking.

Also schizoids have unusual hobbies: they are interested in science, creativity, philosophy, sometimes the theory of religion, yoga.

Psychotypes

Stenic

Schizoids of this type have high performance, persistent, pragmatic, purposefulBut their attention is focused on narrow areas of activity, beyond which they practically do not go beyond.

If their interests are directly related to the work, they will show extreme workaholism in it, which will benefit their implementation as specialists.

However, areas where skill interact with people is in the foreground, usually not of interest to them.

Low emotionality allows them to cope better with stressful situations, as they view them from a rational rather than an emotional point of view and are perceived as tasks that need to be solved as quickly and efficiently as possible.

With their colleagues, schizoid schizoids also have little contact, only out of necessity, they have no friends, they are despotic about communication.

Sensitive

Schizoids related to this psychotype overly vulnerable, painfully react to any criticisms. Their psycho-emotional state is rapidly deteriorating as soon as others begin to treat them with insufficient, in their opinion, understanding.

They are prone to depressive, anxious disorders, can lose their appetite and sleep, if something went wrong, as they wanted.

If the life of sensitive schizoids becomes more difficult, harder, they tend to move away from reality, go to fantasy and hobbies. Human society does not attract them, but usually they have several close people whom they trust.

Changes frighten sensitive schizoids, so they strive to make their lives as stable and calm as possible.

Schizoid-hysterical personality type

Refers to mixed types, but since the word “schizoid” stands at the beginning, it can be concluded that this type prevails in the personality structure, and the hysteroid type is secondary.

To the classic schizoid traits hysteroidy added: mannerism, capriciousness, increased self-confidence, the desire to keep up with fashion trends, the desire to stand out from the crowd.

To be brighter than others, schizo-hysteroid can try to reveal yourself in appearance (preference is given to bright outfits, non-standard hair color, rich makeup) and in the intellectual sphere, which is expressed in an effort to demonstrate mental excellence at every opportunity.

Also, the hysteroid traits slightly improve the empathic abilities of the schizoid.

However, such people are still inclined to lead a rather secluded life, their artistry and mannerism are not as strong as those of classic hysteroids, they are also less touchy and sensitive.

Expansive

Schizoids of this type are powerful, have developed strong-willed qualities show considerable persistencewhen trying to reach your goal. They tend to go over their heads, if it is necessary to obtain the best result, they ignore the opinions of others.

Their empathic abilities are extremely poorly developed, so they cannot fully empathize and often go through life alone, which does not become a problem for them.

Many schizoids of this type show cruelty in relation to others.

They also overreact to psycho-traumatic situations, and if the problem persists for a long time, they tend to close in on themselves or issue paranoid reactions, psychosis, which is partly due to their inability to cope with the experiences in other ways.

There is also an expansive-schizoid accentuation, in which a person has a temper similar to an expansive-schizoid personality disorder.

But, as mentioned earlier, accentuation is different from disorder. Therefore, a person with this accentuation will be less cruel, avoid severe desocialization, and over time, its features can be partially smoothed out.

Schizoid woman

For girls of this type self-development and own inner world is much more importantThan following stereotypes common in society about how a woman should behave, so they do not care too much about their appearance, are taciturn, but their keen mind and unusual views of life set them apart from the crowd.

There is often confusion in the home of a schizoid woman, due to her considerable immersion in hobbies and fantasies. She is comfortable in this setting, and she does not feel obliged to behave in a different way.

Like male schizoids, schizoid-type girls reluctantly draw closer to others, avoid building close emotional bonds, hardly express feelings, it is difficult for them to empathize with others.

Also, they have little interest in sexual and romantic relationships, so they can consciously choose loneliness and devote life to self-development.

Mother schizoid

It is difficult for a schizoid-type woman to be a mother, because motherhood is a huge emotional job, to which schizoids are poorly adapted.

Therefore, many mothers behave with a child detached, concentrate on its intellectual development, and not on emotional.

Children in such families grow restrained in emotional manifestations, rational, intelligent and can acquire obvious schizoid features.

But there is another side: some schizoid mothers begin to patronize their children excessively. They are restless, and their anxiety becomes the driving force overwhelming the child.

When it is small, it is not too noticeable, but later it can lead to problems: an adult child not self emotionally attached to mother.

Signs of schizoid personality type in children, adolescents, adults:

Famous people of schizoid type

People of the schizoid type are a storehouse of various abilitiesand their purposefulness, developed intellect and ability to work on solving a certain task for a long time give them an opportunity to achieve a lot in life. Therefore, there are a lot of famous people among schizoids.

Schizoids are ranked:

Van Gogh;
Albert Einstein;
Immanuel Kant;
Salvador Dali;
Johanna Bach;
Maria Skłodowska-Curie;
Pierre Curie;
Dmitri Mendeleev;
Ludwig van Beethoven;
Arthur Schopenhauer.

Causes and risk group

The development of schizoid disorder is affected by a wide variety of external and internal causes. The main ones are:

Lack of communication with adults in the first years of life. Small children need to communicate with adults. This helps them to develop quickly and harmoniously, to perceive emotional signals correctly. Children who have not received this, in the future it is difficult to express their feelings, to accept love.
Cruelty, excessive severity on the part of parents. If parents are cruel to the child, often resort to punishment, are emotionally removed from him, do not have warm feelings for him, this becomes the reason for the appearance of pronounced schizoid features in him.
Abnormalities in the development of the fetus, arising in the process of carrying or during labor and delivery. They are associated with oxygen starvation, head injuries during childbirth, infections, the use of drugs that are not recommended for pregnant women.
Heredity. There are also schizoids among the close relatives of people with this disorder.
Violations in the perception of their own "I." This means that a person is not well aware of who he is, therefore it is difficult for him to understand what is comfortable for him and how to communicate with those around him.

AT risk group are:

children brought up in orphanages;
men (this disorder is less common in women);
children of people with schizoid disorder or with disorders that prevent them from revealing their emotional side (Asperger syndrome, schizotypal disorder, depression).

Behavior features

Schizoid disorder, or, to put it differently, schizoid psychopathy, is accompanied by the following behavioral features:

Sensitivity to what is important, and indifference to everything else. A schizoid reacts extremely badly if the unpleasant situation is related to the fact that he is more or less valuable in what he has let into his inner circle, but he doesn’t care about everything that is not in this circle.
If, for example, someone wants to throw out a collection of candy wrappers that has been lovingly collected, the schizoid will not like it very much, but the news that his colleague, whom he sees every day, is seriously ill, will not disturb him.
Extremes in the expression of emotions. Emotional states of schizoid psychopaths are close to polarity: they are either enraptured or hateful. Indifference is also characteristic of them.
Lack of awareness in domestic issues. In everyday life, schizoids often show helplessness. If you ask them a question related to their scientific hobbies, you can get many hours of lecture with a lot of complicated terms, but they pay minimal attention to the everyday side of life and sometimes need help.
Motive features. Schizoids are clumsy, restrained in gestures, angular, lack of flexibility.

Also schizoid often don't have family.

About the main symptoms of schizoid personality disorder in this video:

Danger of personality disorder

Is it dangerous? The most bright schizoid traits manifest in adolescenceBut by the age of 30-40, many people who have this disorder have a moderate softening of the most pronounced aspects of their personality.

Schizoids pose no danger to people around them. Their personal characteristics - more a problem for themselves and not for others, because their detachment, self-absorption, and strangeness become grounds for ridicule and humiliation, especially in adolescence and youth.

Also, older schizoids have difficulty trying to adapt to society.

Treatment

It is impossible to cure schizoid disorder, but psychotherapeutic treatment can soften its manifestations, help a person adapt to society, better understand your emotional needs.

In the treatment of this deviation, methods of cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy are widely used.

Drugs are ineffective in the treatment of this disorder, but with strong severity, they can be prescribed. Are used:

antipsychotics. Apply if the schizoid seeks to completely distance himself from those around him (Risperidone);
beta blockers and benzondiazepines when anxiety occurs (Anaprilin, Fenazepam).

The dosage is selected by the attending physician depending on the patient's condition.

A schizoid who has received psychotherapeutic treatment is able to maintain the necessary number of social connections. Part of schizoid successfully find partners.

About the treatment of schizoid personality disorder in this video:

Life and communication

How to live and communicate with the schizoid? Advice to people who live with the schizoid, communicate with him:

Realize that communication for the interlocutor is difficult, does not cause significant interest, and do not impose it if it is against.
Avoid condemning the lifestyle a person, even if it seems that he is very wrong (for example, socially active people may be convinced that a lonely person is by definition unhappy, so he urgently needs to surround himself with hundreds of friends and find a partner). This does not help to change the schizoid, but he is unlikely to want to communicate with you in the future.
For schizoid being alone is very important. You should not distract him when he is immersed with his head in hobbies, fantasy, if there are no good reasons for this. At the same time, leaving him alone for a long time is also not worth it in order to prevent desocialization.
Don't expect from him a strong emotional response, romance, openness.
Do not clog the air with you completely during the dialogue, let him also speak, and you will see how interesting this person is.
Avoid long conversations with him.; watch out for his reactions during the dialogue, do not hesitate to ask if he is interested in participating in it.

Schizoids are happy to communicate with intellectual, erudite people, who in communication concentrate on their discoveries and hobbies.

The possibility of military service

Schizoid personality disorder exempted from military service. Also, a person with this personal deviation will not be able to get a driver's license in Russia.

But schizoid accentuation is not a contraindication neither for military service, nor for driving.

Close schizoid important to treat its features with understanding do not interfere with his contacts with the inner worldand then his life will be comfortable.

Consequences of schizoid personality disorder. Driving a car and the army in schizoid psychopathy: