1] Personality disorders [PD] consist of a loosely-bound cluster of sub-types. Which of the following common features are evident in PD?
2] Which of the following is the most well-known of the Personality disorders ?
3] Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of individuals with paranoid personality disorder
4] An Individual with a schizotypal personality disorder will usually exhibit which of the following characteristics?
5] Which of the following is a subtype of Dramatic/Emotional Personality Disorders [Cluster B]
6] The term 'sociopath' or 'psychopath' is sometimes used to describe which type of personality disorder
7] An individual with narcissistic personality disorder will routinely overestimate their abilities and inflate their accomplishments, and this is characterized by which of the following?
8] The apparent lack of empathy and the tendency to exploit others for self-benefit, has lead psychologists to compare narcissistic personality disorder with which one of the following?
9] Which of the following are considered to be the main features of avoidant personality disorder?
10] Some clinicians have come to believe that antisocial personality disorder and social phobia are both components of a broader spectrum called:
11] An Individual with Dependent Personality Disorder will exhibit which of the following?
12] An Individual with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder will exhibit which of the following characteristics?
13] Which of the following is NOT considered to be a risk factors for personality disorders ?
14] The formalistic similarities between Cluster A disorders and schizophrenia have led researchers to argue that they are part of a broader
15] According to psychodynamic theory which of the following is NOT deemed to be characteristic of the parents of an individual with paranoid personality disorder
16] Antisocial Personality Disorder is closely associated with criminal and antisocial behaviour. Because of this, considerable effort has been invested in attempting which of the following?
17] Personality disorders are an enduring patterns of behaviour that persist from childhood into adulthood and because of this fact, one of the best predictors of APD in adulthood is a diagnosis of
18] Behaviour of individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder often appears impulsive and unpredictable due to switching quickly and unpredictably between:
19] More recent research has linked Borderline Personality Disoder [BPD] with bipolar disorder, and the two are often comorbid. Some individuals with BPD belong to a broader:
20] Evidence suggests that individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder have a number of brain abnormalities that may give rise to impulsive behaviour. There is evidence for dysfunction in brain:
21] According to psychodynamic theory individuals are sometimes motivated to respond to the world through the perspectives they have learnt from important other people in their developmental past. This is called:
22] Psychodynamic theories of personality disorders that individuals with weak egos engage in a defence mechanism called:
23] Narcissistic personality disorder is also closely associated with antisocial personality disorder [APD],. Which of the following is not a way in narcissistic individuals will regularly act:
24] Which of the following is not usually associated with Avoidant Personality Disorder?
25] Which of the following is a particular example of psychodynamic treatment which attempts to strengthen the individual's weak ego so that they are able to address issues in their life without constantly flipping from one extreme view to another:
26] There is one particular form of therapy that has been successfully used to treat individuals with personality disorders and involves providing them with insight into their dysfunctional ways of thinking, and is designed to provide them with the necessary skills to overcome these problematic ways of thinking and behaving. Which of the following is this therapy ?
27] Cognitive behavioural therapy may be used to treat an individual with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder by challenging:
28] In the treatments of individuals with Borderline Personality Disorder a therapist may change dysfunctional schemata by:
29] Which of the following could be described as a stage of schemata therapy for personality disorder?
30] Which of the following is not a DSM-IV-TR criterion for schizoid personality disorder?
Learning Objectives
- Describe the characteristics and diagnosis of schizoid personality disorder
We’ve learned about paranoid personality disorder, now let’s take a look at another Cluster A disorder: schizoid personality disorder. Persons with schizoid personality disorder are considered classic loners.
Table 1. DSM-5 Personality Disorders| Paranoid | harbors a pervasive and unjustifiable suspiciousness and mistrust of others; reluctant to confide in or become close to others; reads hidden demeaning or threatening meaning into benign remarks or events; takes offense easily and bears grudges; not due to schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders | A |
| Schizoid | lacks interest and desire to form relationships with others; aloof and shows emotional coldness and detachment; indifferent to approval or criticism of others; lacks close friends or confidants; not due to schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, not an autism spectrum disorder | A |
| Schizotypal | exhibits eccentricities in thought, perception, emotion, speech, and behavior; shows suspiciousness or paranoia; has unusual perceptual experiences; speech is often idiosyncratic; displays inappropriate emotions; lacks friends or confidants; not due to schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder, or to autism spectrum disorder | A |
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Figure 1. Schizoid personality disorder is characterized by a solitary lifestyle and detachment from others.
Schizoid personality disorder [often abbreviated as SPD or SzPD] is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, 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 inability to tolerate emotional expectations of others, apparent indifference when praised or criticized, a degree of asexuality, and idiosyncratic moral or political beliefs. Symptoms typically start in late childhood or adolescence.
Schizoid personality disorder [SPD] is described as a pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings. Beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by at least four of the following:
- neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family
- almost always chooses solitary activities
- has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person
- takes pleasure in few, if any, activities
- lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
- appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others
- shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affect
Those with schizoid personality disorder [SPD] may often be unable to, or will rarely, express aggressiveness or hostility, even when provoked directly. These individuals can seem vague or drifting about their goals and their lives may appear directionless.
Comorbidity
Schizoid personality disorder is often found to occur with at least one of several disorders or pathologies. Sometimes, a person with SPD may meet criteria for an additional personality disorder; when this happens, it is most often avoidant, schizotypal, or paranoid personality disorder. Alexithymia [the inability to identify and describe emotions] is often present in SPD.
While SPD shares several symptoms with other mental disorders, there are some important differentiating features:
| Depression | People who have SPD may also suffer from clinical depression. However, this is not always the case. Unlike a person with depression, persons with SPD generally do not consider themselves inferior to others. They may recognize instead that they are different. |
| Avoidant personality disorder [AvPD] | While people affected with AvPD avoid social interactions due to anxiety or feelings of incompetence, those with SPD do so because they are genuinely indifferent to social relationships. A 1989 study, however, found that “schizoid and avoidant personalities were found to display equivalent levels of anxiety, depression, and psychotic tendencies as compared to psychiatric control patients.” There also seems to be some shared genetic risk between SPD and AvPD. Several sources to date have confirmed the synonymy of SPD and avoidant attachment style. |
| Other personality disorders | Schizoid and narcissistic personality disorders can seem similar in some respects [e.g., both show identity confusion, may lack warmth and spontaneity, and avoid deep relationships with intimacy]. Another commonality observed by Akhtar is preferring ideas over people. |
| Autism Spectrum Disorder | There may be substantial difficulty in distinguishing milder forms of autism spectrum disorder. SPD is classified as a schizophrenia-like personality disorder. There is some overlap, as some people with autism also qualify for a diagnosis of schizotypal or SPD. However, one of the distinguishing features of SPD is a restricted affect and an impaired capacity for emotional experience and expression. Persons with autism may fail to recognize social cues such as verbal hints or body language. |
Prevalence
Studies suggest that SPD disorder has a prevalence of less than 1%. There is no difference observed in the frequency between males and females.
Etiology
Although not much is definitively known regarding the etiology of schizoid personality disorder, it is assumed that genetics significantly contributes to the disorder. Twin studies using self-report questionnaires have estimated heritability rates for schizoid personality disorder to be about 30%.
Treatment
People with schizoid personality disorder rarely seek treatment for their condition. This is an issue found in many personality disorders, which prevents many people who are afflicted with these conditions from coming forward for treatment: they tend to view their condition as not conflicting with their self-image and their abnormal perceptions and behaviors as rational and appropriate.
Case StUdy: Schizoid Personality Disorder
Edgar is a 26-year-old man. Despite extraordinary intelligence, Edgar was not able to complete or participate in any educational programs. He wanted to have a normal life with family and friends, but thought that he was rootless and he felt that other people thought that he was peculiar or odd. He felt that he was an outsider. As a child, he went to various schools because his parents moved around. He was thought of as a lonely wolf and did not participate in the social life, games, or sports with his peers. During class, he was often absent-minded, being absorbed in his own thoughts and fantasies. From around the age of thirteen, he became interested in computers and was quite advanced in his understanding of mathematics. Edgar became exceedingly isolated with his computer as his sole companion and remains detached from people to this day. He has never been in a relationship and expressed no desire to be in one. Edgar is diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder because of his pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships, his emotional flatness, his lack of desire for relationships, and his preference for solitary activities.
Figure 2. Some schizoid individuals can form relationships based on occupational activities.
The vignette above illustrates the difficulties for those with schizoid personality disorder in establishing stable relationships with significant others like peers and family. Often it is regarded as unusual that a person with schizoid personality disorders complains that they feel isolated. Many schizoid patients, on the contrary, claim to be quite satisfied with their loneliness and it is quite unusual that they wish to have a family. Also, schizoid persons usually accept their situation or even deny any desire for closer relationships.
People who have SPD tend to be happiest when in relationships in which their partner places few emotional or intimate demands on them and does not expect phatic or social niceties. It is not necessarily people they want to avoid, but negative or positive emotional expectations, emotional intimacy, and self-disclosure. Therefore, it is possible for individuals with SPD to form relationships with others based on intellectual, physical, familial, occupational, or recreational activities, as long as there is no need for emotional intimacy. Donald Winnicott explains this is because schizoid individuals “prefer to make relationships on their own terms and not in terms of the impulses of other people.” Failing to attain that, they prefer isolation. In general, friendship among schizoids is usually limited to one person, often also schizoid, forming what has been called a union of two eccentrics.
Key Takeaways: schizoid personality disorder
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This video provides a brief overview of schizoid personality disorder.
You can view the transcript for “Schizoid Personality Disorder in a Minute” here [opens in new window].
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Glossary
alexithymia: the inability to identify and describe emotions
schizoid personality disorder: a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a solitary lifestyle, and detachment from others