Being too introverted and cold may be a schizotypal personality disorder

Author: Wang Changhong, Chief Physician of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical College

Gao Chang, Associate Professor, Jining Medical College

Reviewer: Pan Miao, deputy chief physician of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical College

Momo is a senior student. She has excellent academic performance in school, but she is a loner in her daily life. She always keeps to herself and rarely communicates with her parents. Her parents think that this is just due to her introverted personality and don't pay much attention to it.

It was not until he insisted on going to France to study for a master's degree despite his family's objections that his parents discovered that his behavior was a little abnormal. He often ignored his parents, refused to attend family gatherings, and even ignored his grandparents who loved him the most. He also often lost his temper for no reason and refused to let his family enter his room. He firmly believed that only by going to France could he realize his ideals, and that even if he did not rely on his parents, there would be French people who would support him in his studies for free.

After analyzing Momo, the doctor found that he lacked the ability to express warmth and anger to others. Apart from studying mathematics, there was nothing that could make him feel happy. In addition, he was cold to others, had no close friends, often did what he wanted, and obviously ignored social conventions and customs, with obvious cognitive distortion.

In fact, these symptoms all indicate that Mo Mo suffers from schizotypal personality disorder.

What is schizotypal personality disorder?

Schizotypal personality disorder is characterized by peculiarities in ideas, behavior, and appearance and dress, as well as emotional coldness and interpersonal relationship deficits.

There is no clear onset time for this disease, which usually begins in childhood or adolescence, and is slightly more common in males. Initially, it manifests as loneliness and poor companionship, poor academic performance, high sensitivity and bizarre fantasies, etc., and it is easy to be ridiculed by others because of these "strange" or "weird" behaviors. In adulthood, these behaviors gradually become obvious, often forming a persistent, fixed and generalized abnormal behavior pattern.

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Current studies have shown that the occurrence of schizotypal personality disorder is mainly attributed to the patient's family members or family background. Before the age of 18, bad childhood life experiences and inappropriate parenting methods will affect the formation of an individual's personality and even develop into a mental illness.

The patient's growth record often confirms this. In childhood, their parents often showed emotional coldness or rigidity, or the patient was often humiliated by parents, siblings or peers. These reasons will lead to their significant distrust of interpersonal relationships and find it difficult to establish meaningful interpersonal relationships.

The manifestations of schizotypal personality disorder

The symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder are as follows.

1. Concept of involvement Patients often mistakenly interpret occasional and external events as having special or unusual meanings to themselves. For example, they misunderstand the frowning movements of others that have nothing to do with themselves as hating themselves.

2. Having strange beliefs or magical thinking. Patients may feel that they have special abilities, the ability to predict events, or the ability to read other people's thoughts.

3. Unusual sensory experiences This experience can include physical illusions. The patient may have altered perceptions, such as feeling the presence of another person or hearing someone whispering his name.

4. Weird thinking and speech The patient's thinking and speech are often unusual or bizarre, usually loose, off-topic or vague, but not really off-topic or incoherent. Some patients' verbal responses are overly specific or overly abstract, and sometimes they use words and concepts in unusual ways that are difficult to understand.

5. Suspicion or paranoia manifests itself as distrust of other people's words and deeds, for example, believing that a colleague is intentionally defaming one's reputation in front of the leader.

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6. Inappropriate or restricted emotions The patient's social behavior and manner appear indifferent, unsociable, and withdrawn, and many patients have a strong fear of being humiliated or rejected by others, but for protective reasons, these emotions are suppressed.

7. Odd, abnormal, or peculiar behavior or appearance Because of their unusual behavior, patients are often untidy or inappropriately dressed and do not pay attention to common social customs, such as avoiding eye contact with others. Such patients are often regarded as weird.

8. Lack of close friends. Patients often lack interpersonal skills and cannot demonstrate confidence in meaningful interpersonal relationships. They prefer to be alone to avoid social rejection or ridicule from others.

9. Excessive social anxiety This type of social anxiety will not decrease as you become more familiar with others.

They will interact with others when they have to, but they still prefer to be alone because they feel they are born different. In addition, this social anxiety will not be easily reduced. As the social time increases, the patient will become more nervous and suspicious.

How to treat schizotypal personality disorder

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The treatment of schizotypal personality disorder is relatively difficult. The relevant treatment methods mainly focus on correcting the patient's abnormal behavior, which can be divided into drug treatment and non-drug treatment.

Generally speaking, drug therapy is difficult to change personality structure, and doctors will not recommend patients to use drugs for a long time. Drugs can only be used in small amounts when patients have abnormal stress and emotional reactions. For example, when patients show anxiety, they can be given a small amount of anti-anxiety drugs.

Non-drug treatment mainly includes psychotherapy, which aims to help patients establish good behavior patterns and correct bad habits. However, it is difficult to directly change the patient's behavior. Cognitive behavioral therapy can be used to help patients change their way of thinking and learn how to manage stress and relieve anxiety. At the same time, in order to avoid the many problems caused by complex interpersonal relationships, patients should try to do simple work and live in a simpler environment.

In general, the treatment effect of schizotypal personality disorder is limited and the prognosis is poor. Therefore, it is particularly important to cultivate a healthy personality in childhood. Parents are the first teachers of their children. During the growth of their children, they should pay special attention to their children's emotions, behaviors and psychological changes, and create a warm and harmonious family environment, which is conducive to the healthy psychological growth of their children.