Whats the difference between Schizotypal and Aspergers?

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So, then, what are the differences?

The Aspie can't look you in the eye and understand your sarcastic joke. The schizotypal thinks you're out to get him because it lines up with a movie he saw?

Not trying to be funny, trying to find an example of AS w/o StPD and StPD w/o AS. There's enough overlap between the two that, in theory, one could be accidentally diagnosed with the other. Unless you're saying a screwy upbringing must have been present for StPD.

Schizotypal is a personality disorder and Aspergers is a neurodevelopmental disorder.

2 shrinks when I was younger [single digits] said I was either schizoid or schizotypal. the AS dx came late in adulthood, after an earlier dx of ADHD inattentive subtype. I suspect there is lotsa overlap there.

Supposedly, AS has a more organic cause while Schizoid and schizotypal are personality disorders, which are more environmental. I do see how it’s VERY easy to confuse the two. I’ve suspected for a while that I have AS but recently read a description of Schizoid personality and it described me almost 100%. There is undoubtedly overlap in symptoms. I also show paranoid and avoidant symptoms. It’s hard to discern which behaviors are from what disorder because I can also point to a lot of environmental issues which may have caused my issues as well. I was scapegoated by both peers and family growing up while also abused in jobs. This may be because I was born with AS, but a lot of traits may have been reinforced or exaggerated by repeated mistreatment at the hands of other people. If I were to seek a diagnosis, I may be given different labels depending on how you look at it. If someone were to ask about my childhood and how my traits were always present, they may conclude AS. If they were to look more at the adverse experiences I have had since then and how these may have affected me, I may get labeled with a personality disorder. I think it can be a tough decision sometimes and really depends on who is analyzing you.

Like asking "whats the difference between a daffodil, and a hippopotamus?". Its the similarities that are elusive, and not the differences.

Am aspie, and I know a schizotypal dude. I don't see how we two are anything alike at all.

He takes fistfuls of prescription pills, to become outwardly normal. Though still has difficulties. I don't take any head meds at all. With, or with out, his meds the difficulties he has are nothing like the ones I have. I just don't get how anyone could conflate the two conditions.

That's cool, but could you elaborate more?

Forget about meds or lack thereof. In what ways are you solidly Aspies and him solidly NOT Aspies but Schizotypal? What are the differences in your difficulties and behaviors? What makes it so obvious that you're condition and his are totally different?

To capsulize it: I am your basic Sheldon Leonard/Spock type intellectual aspie (was the textbook "little professor" as a child).

He is much more NT in social interaction than I am but has other issues. Off his meds he just talks nutty, goes off an tangents when he talks, is a bit paranoid, and even has some magical thinking, and gets excessively emotional. On his meds he functions and talks like a normal blue collar guy. But is still dyslexic, but I guess that's a comorbid. Oddly his taste in movies changes. Off meds he is overly sensitive to sex and violence. But on meds and cant sit through a move unless it has lots of gore and violent special effects. Go figure. Most of his problems have to do with growing up in an abusive family with tons of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and ...ABUSE (physical verbal and emotional by family members). So its largely environmental. I am just wired the way have always been since I was in grade school (not that there aint some family induced neurosis with me too, but not like this guy).

^^^your schizoid friend reminds me of me a bit. only I can't handle violence, meds or no meds.

Interesting.

you're not as obsessed with drugs as my buddy.

Nowadays he ONLY smokes a 100 dollars worth of weed a week. A big improvement for him. A few years ago he was into drinking, crack smoking, and using prescription pills without prescriptions. He has chronic physical pain so his addictive behavior is...partially justifiable, and partially not.

Like Fifteen years ago I took him to a certain erotic highbrow major motion picture that happen to havve an artistically done lesbian scene, and he got so upset by it that weeks later he was still accusing me of "raping" his mind. But now he has a whole collection of triple X lesbian movies (a normal thing for straight guys, but the contrast with his former self amuses me).

Last edited by naturalplastic on 16 Feb 2019, 4:12 am, edited 1 time in total.

he must come from some major money to be able to spend like that.

Kinda. His dad was a doctor. He inherited some money. But he is not Trump.

I get the impression that he buys at least fifty dollars a week each weekend. And he pretty much uses it all up each week. But he does have a decent janitorial job. So he does earn a paycheck. But I also get the impression that his use does not trend downward.

He used to have a social worker to manage his finances. But recently he fired his social worker. So I HOPE he still has a handle on managing his bank account. The young Black couple who share his apartment broke up. The lady tossed her no good boyfriend out who was worse with the rent than my buddy. Though she is involved in my buddy's pot buying she is actually rather sane (relatively speaking she is a good influence on his sorry ass. Lol).

But yeah. My buddy is pretty much a slow motion trainwreck, but still survives somehow.

yeh, I can see how his inheritance sorta allows him to continue to be quasi-dysfunctional. am glad to hear that at least he managed to avoid the court appointing a payee for him, like some other people here on WP.

Natural plastic:

Thank your for your enligthtening responses. But just to clarify, is your friend schizotypal, or schizophrenic?

He is not flat out schizophrenic.

And never been so diagnosed.

Years ago he was diagnosed as bipolar (manic depressive).

But the last few times he has talked to me and I have heard him talk to others about his current diagnosis its been something with "schiz" in it that is not actual schizophrenia. To be honest with you all, it MIGHT have been "schizoid personality", but I am 90 percent sure its "schizotypal".

Havent seen him for a while. I guess I should ask him to make sure the next I see him.

Thanks naturalplastic.

On this website, it lists 10 symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder. A person needs 5 to theoretically qualify: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con ... c-20353919

I'll list them here for convenience, but you can skip over them if you get the gist.

The biggest difference between Asperger's and Schizotypal seems to be an emphasis on magical beliefs or superstitious thinking that schizotypals are said to have. But, on paper, if you ignore the ones about magical thinking and focus on the other criteria, there is a lot of overlap between shizotypal and many (but not all) Aspies. If a person only needs 5 to qualify, then even without magical thinking, it seems many on the autistic spectrum could be pegged as schizotypal:

Stuff like social anxiety, being a loner, not understanding social cues, unkempt appearance and lack of concern for social status, flat emotions, odd speech inflections, all-around social misunderstanding and seeming "strange" to most people.

If you do see your buddy again, and the situation seems approrpriate, you should ask for clarification if he is indeed schizotypal.

Despite your differences, do you see any common ground with him, traits you both share that most people don't have?

My buddy's way of being just tastes and feels different than mine.

Back when he was more crazy he was just that. A little bit not in touch with reality. A little bit paranoid, and a little bit more magical thinking. Trending toward the psychotic in ways I never was at any time in my life from childhood until now.

About the only thing we have in common is one thing that isn't a thing in common (could be taken as a difference or as a similarity), and that is special interests. When I was a little kid I was the text book "little professor" who could monologue about special interests. And still am that way. He has one thing that outwardly looks like an aspie "special interest" and that thing is drugs. He can monologue all day about the latest trends in illegal street drugs, and all day about the legal drugs in the PDR. But that's because he is a druggie (who came from a drug abusing family headed by drug abusing doctor dad), and isn't really stemming from anything like aspergers. Or that's how I think of it.

So if you're talking about ways in which we deviate from "normal" people I would hard put to think of ways that we are similar ...in being different from most folks. We deviate from each other in how we deviate. Maybe I am biased against thinking of myself as being like him, but I doubt it.