schizotypal personality disorder? Aspergers? Help please?

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I got tested for aspergers the results are not in yet.
Now I am worried I may have schizotypal personality disorder also.
Reason being I had a period a few years ago that lasted months of de-personalization.

Also have a lot of the other symptoms.

But they sound allot like aspergers.

So I would love for some people with Schizotypal to give me some of there symptoms and what it is like.

Thanks, much appreciated.

I have a good friend/bandmate who is like this...He has many co-morbid diagnoses....Bi-polar-Schizoaffective-blah blah...He also has autistic traits...but not really conventional ones...he stims like crazy..for example...but he is good at being social, and he makes eye contact.
I forget the exact terms for the the things he is diagnosed with...but he is on SSI/Medicade..so he doesn't have to be homeless again...

He is incredibly intelligent and creative and funny. He is constantly making up songs about imaginary things.
Ummm...he has trouble with motor-coordination...
He was first put on anti-psychotic meds before he hit puberty
He has had hallucinations and delusions before...but he does not have them all the time, and goes through long phases where he does not.
Currently, he has been in a stable phase for almost a year...but he can sometimes switch into "manic" mode, and then he is impossible to be around...he becomes super-hypersensitive to the slightest perceived insult...stops sleeping properly...talks to himself more....writes manicly...his movements become fast and jerky...his thoughts become more repeatative and delusional...he might start yelling a lot for no apparent reason.
Ususally when he gets like this...someone..likesay..a neighbor...will call the cops on him and he will wind up in the mental hospital again.
He claims that when he snaps back to normal, he does so on account of some sort of motivation...like the motivation to not want to have to be on meds....if that makes sense....

AS and schizotypal PD are similar in some wasy, eg. the lack of social contact, odd behavior, etc. Depersoanlization is also possible with AS. The way I take it, the main difference si that AS starts in childhood and schizotypal PD starts in adulthood...of course I'm not saying they are the same in eveyr other respect, but somepeople could be diagnosed with either depending on whether there is evidence that they had problems in childhood.

I find this topic interesting because I just started reading a book on psychiatric nursing and when I got to schizoid personality disorder I thought it shared many of the same traits as autism. I suppose perhaps there is neurological dysfunction in the same hemisphere of the brain but I am not sure. Although people with schizotypal disorder are usually also intellectually diminished.

Schizoid - Detached from social relationships; restricted affect; involved with things more than people
Schizotypal - Acute discomfort in relationships; cognitive or perceptual distortions; eccentric behavior

When you say you went through a period of depersonalization, do you mean 'feelings of detachment'? because this is usually the result of great stress and is not so abnormal. If the feelings are chronic and not attributable to stress than yes it can be diagnosed as a disorder, but having some periods of depersonalization following traumatic/stressful events is normal.

Also, schizoid disorder generally begins in childhood, whereas schizotypal disorder generally begins in early adulthood. Both share a strong genetic basis. I know I've read schizophrenia tends to skip one generation, so a person with schizophrenia may pass it on to their grandkids. Not sure about these other 2 disorders.

Last edited by Grace09 on 08 Sep 2009, 2:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I noticed the similarities when reading the DSM III-TR casebook, the DSM IV and IV-TR. Also, when in high school I was monitored by medical professionals who thought I was prodromal for schizophrenia (AS was not in the diagnostic manuals at the time).

Key differences: schizoid PD tends to include a strong interest in parapsychological phenomena. People with schizoid PD often are into ESP, telepathy, and other forms of parapsychology, even attending local groups for others who share that interest. They also tend to be mystical or spiritual in a way not common among those on the spectrum.

Key point: Schizoid PD is diagnosed when a PDD (such as AS) is absent (c.f.: DSM-IV criteria B).

As an adult during my diagnosis for AS, I was screened for schizoid and schizotypical personality disorders, failing to meet the criteria for either. Also, like many Aspies, I have savant abilities, which are hardly ever found among schizoids.

I remember seeing that the next DSM is removing one of these disorders. Not sure but I thought it was schizoid? I hope they add NVLD so there will be more awareness of it. I've read it is so much like AS but am finding, well either is isn't or my stepson has something in addition.

First of all I think it is worth reminding you guys that shizoid and schizotypal are two separate personality disorders. In case of schizoid personality disorder, you are simply socially withdrawn and that is pretty much it. In case of schizotypcal, on the other hand, you also are interested in telepathy and have odd behaviors.

Anyway, back to the topic of the post: telepathy comes to mind as something schizotypals posess while aspies don't. Also there are other quasi-psychotic features, such as paraniod ideation. This brings back a question I had for several years: how come the criteria for schizotypal personality disorder says you can't be diagnosed with it if you are an aspi?

I guess I can kind of answer my own question: the criteria has 9 symptoms, and you need at least 5 for diagnosis. Now, only 4 or less of them can be construed as quasi-psychotic. Thus, an aspie can miss all the quasi-psychotic ones and still earn diagnosis based on the rest. On the other hand, suppose aspie happens to possess quasi-psychotic symptoms as well. Then, everything BESIDES the latter will be "explained away" by Asperger. Quasi-psychotic symptoms will be the only ones "left" as "not explained". But there are less than 5 of them, so it is not enough for diagnosis.

Another explanation that I think of is this. An aspie can be "paranoid" due to lack of social skills. True, majority of aspies "get it wrong" by being naive; but then we might as well have a few who "get it wrong" by being paranoid. As far as telepathy, this might simply be a topic of obsession. After all, there are probably a lot more than the ppl with schizotypal personality disorder who might acknowledge "remote possibility" of telepathy. Now, if an aspie gets fixated on this remote possibility, it will eventually grow into a firm belief.

Now, despite the above explanations, this leaves me with the following question. Schizotypal, historically, was meant to designate a "shaddow" form of schizophrenia. More concretely, Bluer (back in the beginning of 20-th century) has observed that relatives of schizophrenics have some pattern of odd behaviors. He termed it "schizotypal". So now if Asperger is linked to schizotypal, wouldn't this imply the link between autism and schizophrenia -- the idea that has been refutted?

Now, ironically, Bluer DID view autism and schizophrenia as linked. So we can argue that just like he has been wrong linking autism to schizophrenia he is equally wrong linking schizotypal to schizophrenia. But that is not the opinion of most of today's medical community. As far as schizotypal is concerned, most of the today's doctors DO view it as premorbid schizophrenia; autism, on the other hand, is not viewed that way. So in light of this, isn't it silly to say that you can only be diagnosed as schizotypal if you don't have Asperger? I mean, in a sense of having higher risk for schizophrenia, schizotypals have MORE problems than aspies!

Awsome, I belive (vaugly) in paranormal stuff but not to extent I am worried about it.

Good to hear depersonalisation would have started in early adult hood and can be related to as (I had that major episode when i was much much younger like 15)

Good to hear if you have as you can't have schysotypal and I think that sounds right I have some of the quasi sycotic symptoms but not to the extent.

Sweet guess I am just paranoid (I am paranoid as hell but I like to think of it as extra cautiouse around people I don't trust, which is pretty much everyone I've ever met)

So I think its just aspergers/being a wierd dude with pananoid tendancys


Thank you everyone so much for the help.

I have been diagnosised with aspergers with co-morbid with schizotypal, but they changed the schizotypal dx to schizoaffective. Schizophrenia spectrum disorders should only be diagnosised alsong with ASD's when they symptoms are not explained by the autistic symptoms. Some of the symptoms overlap. However they dx'ed me with both becuase i have the odd beliefs and negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and the developmental delays of autism. I also dont have the overlaping symptoms such as social anxiety or lack of friends, which i actually have the opposite of. I just have my own thing. Any disorder can be diagnosed along with anything else because it is possible to have any arrangement of symptoms and it doesnt matter what your diagnosis is becuase everyone has their own personal disorder.

I read schizoaffective disorder is being removed from the next DSM which will come out in 2010.

I consider myself to be schizotypal. I went to the work psychologist. I am 37. They did screening for asperger syndrome on me. I got so that I could be asperger but it was just above the threashold. The world psychologist didnt believe i was asperger. There are ways they can detect it, like eye contact etc. She asked me a lot about my life and my early years etc. It was later when I told stuff about my life that I got some understanding that she knew and understood things about me that I didnt know about. I studied psychiatry on the internet on wikipedia. A person that has known me through the internet came up with the idea that I might be schizotypal. I checked it etc. Now I have read a lot about the schizotypal personality, both in google books on the schizophrenic spectrum and on other research places etc. It is interesting. I am in a sense thankful for my discovery, even though I dont see psychiatry as an absolute science. I consider it to be a political pseudoscience.

So anyway it has been great for me to find out about schizotypal traits etc. Understand myself. self knowledge is good. It has helped me and is helping me understand why I am different. However the swedish psychiatric and psychological departement arent diagnosing me and I dont want to go their.

I was in contact with psychiatry at the age of 23 and they drugged me with a neuroleptica, was a very bad experience, I basiaclly realized that psychiatry was evil and wanted to kill me. they didnt bother to help me so much as to diagnose me but they did a test on me that is used to diagnose latent shizophrenia. But in sweden they arent so nice that they tell you anything to help you. Kill the poor more type of. Sorry for my ranting but that is how I have been thinking. Anyway they put me here in sweden on some kind of money for psychiatric obstable for joining the work force. I am supposed to work anyway. So we will see how it all ends. But maybe it isnt so bad in the end. But I doubt it. Me and work is a strange thing all together.

My life has sure been difficult because of my personality. My first obstacle was family and such things. Which i managed eventually. But it wasnt so lasting. But anyway I am for sure schizotypal. I feel that stress is something that can trigger things. I have learned to walk on thin ice and eventually I have learned to honor my psychee as more important than the outside demands on me. This way I have become able to live a dignifying life.

I supposedly have both but listening to others here I don't know.

I have zero friends and can't communicate in public whereas the rest of you have jobs/careers, children, wives, husbands, friends, colleagues blah blah blah. Maybe a better diagnosis for me would be 'total a-hole'.

Sometimes I wish I could just be fully schizophrenic and loose my mind.

I imagine that you want to say "schizotypal".

I think that he was not wrong - when he linked autism with schizophrenia, he was not talking of the neurological condition that today has the name of "autism"; he was talking of "autism" simply in the sensE of "living in his own world", and think that schiziophrenics really are autistics in these sense (perhaps even more than people with ASD).

gosh, that's me.

I had an eval with a psychologist and got my results today among other things she put schizotypal personality disorder. Also stated cognitive probs processing delays ect ect. basically said that for SSI this is better than saying autism spectrum, but the diagnosis is basically the same thing according to my doctor.