Schizoids

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What are they like as people and how do they differ from those with Asperger's?

If I'm right schizoids are mainly characterised by isolation, indifference and a lack of interest in the opinions of others. It's not like Asperger's or autism in which the individual dearly wants to communicate with others but cannot do so in a way that is acceptable to others, or ends up being egocentric in conversation.

Thoughts?

There was a time when I thought I was schizoid. I suppose I am AS with schizoid tendencies.

How would you differentiate between Schizoid people and people w/ASD who have given up (on friends/people/the world), though?

There is overlap

http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/43/19/20.2.full

The only major thing I could think of is a lack of obsessive interests that also characterise ASDs.

Though, yes, there is often overlap in personality 'disorders'/types.

I'm not referring to schizophrenics but schizoids.

Sounds like you and I are on the same page.

I think there may be two types of Schizoids, one halfway down the road to Schizophrenia and one halfway down the road to autism. Schizoid is mostly just a personality type, an extreme loner. Some aspies have a schizoid presentation, others schizotypal, others dramatic/narcissistic/paranoid and so on. There is a lot of overlap. My husband is AS and has quite a Schizoid personality, I have AS and have a Borderline personality temperament (extremely emotional)

In the past have you had names for the cars you own. The reason I ask is it is the personification of inanimate objects is said to be associated with extremely emotional temperaments; I didn't realize that borderline personality was related to extreme emotion; but it makes sense. Do you feel other peoples emotions strongly?

I have often thought that some with AS feel stronger emotions than normal. You sound like one of those people; It's also interesting because it goes against the theory that the mirror neurons are defective in people with AS. It shows just how complicated it can be for a psychiatrist to try to define all of this in an individual.

The answer to all of your questions is YES!! ! I have very little sense of self and soak up other peoples emotions like a sponge. I am an extreme empath. I have read that people with AS and BPD feel emotions 7 times stronger than NTs. I have been diagnosed with BPD prior to getting my AS diagnosis. I finally got to see an expert in ASDs and he said that even though I do have BPD symptoms I also have underlying AS, he said I also exhibit some Bipolar. It's a hellish combo And yes, it is very complex.

Science has barely begun to investigate the type of autism I have, Baron-Cohen theory of AS is extreme male brain (highly systemizing) and he thinks extreme FEMALE brain is close to psychosis (extreme empathizing, extremely emotional) what he doesn't seem to grasp is that it is also a form of autism but polar opposite to the classic aspie.

BPD is seen as a personality disorder, but I've often wondered if it was of case of being overwhelmed with empathy that one has a hard time of determining where the border of self and others is, whereas others are balanced, have empathy, but don't walk into Superwalmart bombarded by the influence of so much emotional energy.

I saw a study recently that stated that some people's mirror neurons are so active that they actually feel someone touching them, when they observe someone else being touched.

If this is the world that some schizophrenics live in, it's no wonder they withdraw into blunt effect to get away from a world that is torturous. Perhaps in some people with Aspergers, alexithymia is the response to, too much capability for empathy at some point in their life?

I don't know much about BPD, but at some point in makes sense that they quit feeling too, because of the phenomenon of cutting oneself with BPD.

And, does anyone really know what causes a schizophrenic to change to blunt effect? Maybe the mirror neurons burn out in a way, after too much stimulation from the environment? And who knows It, could be the same for some with Autism and/or BPD

I wonder too how much of it is environmental. Being exposed to crowds of humans both alive and through the mediums of TV, theater, etc., all effect mirror neurons. Interestingly too, by percentage, there are double the amount of diagnosed schizophrenics in highly populated areas as there are in rural areas.

Your case is particularly fascinating to me, in that there may be many women that have AS that are not diagnosed because of their extreme empathy, and instead diagnosed with a personality disorder, because of the restrictive diagnostic criteria for AS.

And in years past, many males were misdiagnosed with Schizophrenia, drugged for it, and institutionalized when their actual diagnosis would have been autism, if it was better understood before.

It makes one wonder if Bi-Polar, Schizophrenia, Autism, BPD, NPD, all may have common elements, but are expressed in different ways because of other elements, like genetics, hormones, environment, and the variety of experiences people have with other humans in their life.

Out of curiosity do you see the Hollow Mask Illusion or other illusions of this kind that most people see when presented with them? And finally what is your 2d/4d digit ratio, I'm assuming you are familiar with that, since it is the source of Cohen's theory.

Cohen didn't find nearly as strong of a correlation in the Asperger population as he did with those that have Kanner type Autism. So Asperger's might be a form of Autism, where there is an underlying genetic cause, but the hormonal influence of testosterone in the womb may not be strong enough to cause the developmental delays seen in Kanner's type Autism.

So, as you allude to Cohen may be describing only a subset of ASD's with his "extreme male brain theory".

I should have read your link before all that speculation. Thanks for providing that. I knew the 22Q 11 gene deletion was associated with Schizophrenia but did not realize it was associated with Autism.

I had a child that had some of the more physical health related manifestations of the 22Q 11 gene deletion and some of the same physical characteristics that are correlated with more severe cases of Autism. He didn't live long and there was no way I was going to risk having any more children, because of the physical health problems he was born with.

My wife kept blaming herself and I kept telling her no, it might be my fault. I think this is the key thing that some may not understand when they talk about autism and a cure and that kind of thing; it may not be just the mental effects of Autism that may be in play as underlying factors in some cases of Autism.

A greater understanding of the risks involved and what underlies what, can be the difference between, if someone see a big risk in having another child that doesn't live long and suffers.

If the 22Q 11 gene deletion is associated with some cases of Autism, there are many other health concerns to be considered that are associated with this deletion that may or may not manifest themselves in a child.

You should read the article before dismissing it. It was about overlap between aspergers and schizotypal, which is on the schizophrenic spectrum but is not schizophrenia. What I found confusing is the statement "schizotypal personality disorder—considered the mildest schizophrenia-spectrum illness" as it was my understanding that schizoid personality disorder was the mildest.

Last edited by Dinosaw on 04 May 2011, 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

aghogday, I'll PM you later as I don't want to derail the thread.

For the OP some links:

http://www.schizoids.net/forum/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_p ... y_disorder