DSV-IV "schizotypal personality disorder"

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Schizotypal personality disorder, or simply schizotypal disorder, is a personality disorder that is characterized by a need for social isolation, odd behavior and thinking, and often unconventional beliefs.
Diagnostic criteria (DSM-IV-TR)

The American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV-TR, a widely used manual for diagnosing mental disorders, defines Schizotypal personality disorder as "A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

1. Ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference)
2. Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations)
3. Unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions
4. Odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped)
5. Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
6. Inappropriate or constricted affect
7. Behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar
8. Lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
9. Social anxiety that tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self

[edit] Link with other mental disorders

There is a high rate of comorbidity with other personality disorders. McGlashan et al. (2000) stated that this may be due to overlapping criteria with other personality disorders, such as avoidant personality disorder and paranoid personality disorder.[1]


No mention of autism spectrum and AS.

I'm thinking about it right now if I have tendencies from the schizotpal personality disorder together with autism since very young, but so fay I know you can't diagnose them together, is this true?

Criterias I identify with:

2. Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations)
4. Odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped)
5. Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
6. Inappropriate or constricted affect
7. Behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar
8. Lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
9. Social anxiety that tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self

But for me it is hard to say if they come from autism or are something extra.
I have it very often that I think if I don't mention sertian things that they don't exist and stuff like this.
Sometime I can get really scared that I think strange stuff about it.
But alltogether I KNOW this is just my phantasy and not true, so I don't know if this is really schizotypal.

Has anyone a clue about that and the combination to autism?
(I'm diagnosed with HFA)

According to ICD-10, you can't be diagnosed with AS if your symptoms could be explained by StPD - however, this not say explicitly that a multiple diagnosis of AS and StPD are impossible; and I think that thre is not any reference of autism and StPD being incompatible.

I have the suspiction that, in the present moment, the taxonomy of autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders and personality disorders is a total mess, and probably diferent doctors, with different specializations, ara calling different names to the same things.

Well I have to say that the diagnoses HFA fits me very good.
I started late talking as a child, I am overloaded very often and I have special interests (just to name a view symptoms).
There was never a real doubt that I'm autistic and if there was it usually wasn't very long. I got diagnosed of autism by different doctors and they all agreed in the end on autism.
So I don't doubt my autism diagnoses at all.

I know that you can't diagnose officially StPD and AS together (what's with autism though??), but officially you also can't diagnose ADHD and autism together accourding to the ICD-10 and it is done very often.
So how I wrote, I'm not shure if I really would fit the diagnostic criterias for StPD to autism or if all my symptoms can just be explayned with HFA. I have sometimes the strange feeling that I sometimes have thoughts what other autistics usually don't have, but on the other hand I'm very avare about the fact that they are not really true.
So I don't know...!?

Well I understood it the other way around that AS has to be ruled out for a StPD diagnoses!?

As far as I know, autism is not characterized by delusional thinking, so that aspect should be enough to rule out StPD if it is not present, right?

Probably. IMO, self-diagnosing may be nearly as valid as getting a diagnosis from a doctor at this point.

I disagree,
my diagnosis was very important to me, and the doctor ( neuropsychiatrist, long history with autism) identified and explained a lot to me that I'd not be able to.

Also, the official diagnosis will have far more weight in case I decide to tell my family someday...

Perhaps I was lucky to get a good doc

ps. I do agree, however, that self-diagnosis can also provide answers. And if you're ok with that, more power to you!

Yes, I'd say you were very lucky to get a good doctor. Not all of them are, at least from what I've read on here. Yes, I am self-diagnosed, and that has provided answers.

However, it's good that your official diagnosis has done the same for you.

Well you can have both, delusional thinking AND autism.



I have to admit, that going to a doctor who is not specialist in your diagnoses CAN be so good or bad than self-diagnosing or sometimes even worse. In my case some diagnoses where discussed in the past who just didn't make a lot of sence to me (and were ruled out in the end), because I know myself better BUT going to an expert with great experience, he/she will probably notice things in your behavior you even weren't avare of.

I found a fiew studies who might help:

"4.1.2. Schizotypal PD
Criterion A of schizotypal PD includes characteristics identical with those for schizoid PD in combination with psychotic-like symptoms. Just as in the case of schizoid PD, there is an exclusion criterion B, which emphasizes that a PDD must be ruled out before assigning a diagnosis of schizotypal PD. There is considerable criterion overlap between PDD/ASD and schizotypal PD; however, the overlap is mainly caused by criteria shared with schizoid PD. Criteria unique to schizotypal PD are those related to psychotic-like experiences and magic thinking, which may well be present in people with PDD/ASD, although not among the core features. In our study group, only 1 individual met criteria for schizotypal PD. The low rate may be caused by (1) the relatively young age (schizotypal PD is believed to become more apparent with increasing age), (2) high tolerability of “odd speech” (which is relatively common in AS) by the interviewer, or (3) a true low incidence. Interestingly, recurrent hallucinations without having a psychotic disorder, which is a clear schizotypal criterion, were experienced by 7 (13%) of 54 participants."

Link: Personality disorders and autism spectrum disorders: what are the connections?

"Overlap of autistic and schizotypal traits in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
A group of 27 adolescents with ASD (11 to 18 years) and 30 typically developing adolescents, matched for age and gender, participated in this study. Within the ASD group 11 adolescents satisfied DSM-IV-TR criteria for schizotypal personality disorders. Autistic and schizotypal traits were identified by means of well validated questionnaires (Autism Questionnaire, AQ and Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Revised, SPQ). Significantly more schizotypal traits in adolescents with ASD were found than in typically developing controls. Besides high levels of negative symptoms, adolescents with ASD also displayed high levels of positive and disorganized symptoms. There appeared to be a relationship between the mean level of autistic symptoms and schizotypal traits, as well as specific associations between autistic symptoms and negative, disorganized and positive schizotypal symptoms within individuals."

Link: Overlap of autistic and schizotypal traits in adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders