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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffPeople with schizoid personality disorder are loners. If you have this condition, you're likely to:
- Prefer being alone and usually choose solitary activities
- Prize independence and have few close friendships
- Feel confused about how to respond to normal social cues and generally have little to say
- Lack any desire for sexual relationships
- Feel unable to experience pleasure
- Come off as dull, indifferent or emotionally cold
- Feel unmotivated and tend to underperform at school or work
- Consistently play the role of a follower rather than a leader
Some of these tendencies may have first become noticeable during your childhood.
If you have schizoid personality disorder, you may not know how to form friendships, or you may feel too anxious around other people to try, so you simply give up and turn inward.
The schizophrenic spectrum
Schizoid personality disorder is considered part of the "schizophrenic spectrum" of disorders, which includes schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia. These conditions all have similar symptoms, such as a severely limited ability to make social connections along with a lack of emotional expression. The main distinction is that — unlike schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia — people with schizoid personality disorder are in touch with reality. If you have schizoid personality disorder, you're unlikely to experience paranoia or hallucinations.
In addition, schizoid personality disorder isn't marked by odd speech. Although your tone may not be animated, what you say makes sense. In contrast, the conversational patterns of people with schizotypal personality disorder are typically strange and hard to follow.
When to see a doctor
Treatment for a personality disorder may be more effective if it begins as early as possible.
If someone close to you has urged you to seek help for symptoms common to schizoid personality disorder, make an appointment, starting with a primary care physician or mental health professional.
If you suspect a loved one may have schizoid personality disorder, gently suggest that the person seek medical attention. It might help to offer to accompany your loved one to the first appointment.
- Schizoid personality disorder. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed July 13, 2010.
- Skodol AE, et al. Specific personality disorders. In: Hales RE, et al., eds. The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry. 5th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2008. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed July 13, 2010.
- Blais MA, et al. Personality and personality disorders. In: Stern TA, et al. Massachusetts General Hospital Comprehensive Clinical Psychiatry. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/208922830-3/1022719999/1657/387.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-04743-2..50041-X--cesec11_990. Accessed July 13, 2010.
- Silk KR. Personality disorders. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed July 13, 2010.
- Cohen P. Child development and personality disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 2008;31:477.
- Thylstrup BT, et al. "I am not complaining" — Ambivalence construct in schizoid personality disorder. American Journal of Psychotherapy. 2009;63:147.
- Skodol AE, et al. Positive childhood experiences: Resilience and recovery from personality disorder in early adulthood. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2007;68:1102.
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