Schizoid Personality Disorder

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I'm on the fence about whether or not I have this or aspergers. SPD doesn't explain the sensory stuff and lack of eye contact but there are so many things for SPD that I really, really don't fit. My douchebag of a therapist, with whom I'm no longer speaking (he never returns e-mails anyway) kind of diagnosed me with both (it was personality disorder not otherwise specified) but there's something I need to know.

I know that schizophrenia is a spectrum condition and SPD is on it. Is it ever possible to go further down the spectrum? If I actually DID really have SPD could I one day think I'm getting orders from my TV to shoot the president?

It should be easy by looking at your childhood history. Autism is present at least by the age of three years old. SPD wouldn't be until adolescence. I don't think there's a way, or any real value, of having a diagnosis of both.

The thing is that I don't remember my childhood and I didn't seek a diagnosis until my 20s.

Well, do you fit the criteria for Asperger's currently? If you have resistance to change/routine, sensory issues, lack of eye contact... I'd say get an AS diagnosis. An AS diagnosis will carry a lot more weight than an SPD diagnosis anyway.


This sentence doesn't make much sense. There is no but to it. If you don't really, really fit things about SPD, shouldn't that be enough to know you don't have it unless the same can be said about AS?

Good question. How old are you?

I think if there were any real danger of it becoming schizophrenia in the therapists eyes then they would've waited to diagnose you, to see if your behavior started changing.

SPD really just means that you are antisocial or can't feel deep connections with others. If you have no history of schizophrenia in your family and have been the way you are for most of your life I wouldn't worry too much, later onset and worsening behaviors would be a little concerning.

The neuropsychologist I recently saw just dx-ed me with schizoid personality disorder (with schizotypal and avoidant features.) I've had five other neuropsych evaluations in my life and I was dx-ed with schizotypal on four of them and borderline on the first one. According to one psychologist and another psychiatrist....I do exhibit "psychotic signs". Neither of these individuals formally assessed me however with any neuropsychological/personality tests. The former individual also told me he believed I had narcisstic personality disorder. This again has never been officially dx-ed on any of my neuropsych evals. The psychiatrist who believed I was exhibiting "psychotic signs" prescribed Zyprexa for me. Even a small dose of this med was too much for me. It just knocked me out for 12 hours a day and turned me into a zombie during waking hours.


She believed I was exhibiting "psychotic signs" because I would experience bodily illusions/hallucinations....especially when I was having a panic attack. For example....I told her it felt like electricity was running through my head at times and such things were considered "psychotic signs" to her. Anyway....I believe the schizoid pd dx fits me best and i've been saying that for a long time. If I do say so myself....I think i'm pretty good when it comes to self-diagnosis. For all intents and purposes....I was self-dx-ed with NLD/NVLD at 14. This was long before I had even heard of NLD and before most psychologists knew anything about it as well. I just read the description of a particular "personality disorder" proposed by Quay in 1972. I read this description in a Random House encyclopedia that my grandfather had. The proposed personality disorder was known as "Immature-Inadequate personality disorder". The characteristics of this particular pd sounded much like myself and it was sort of a "eureka moment" for me at the time.

Years later after learning about NLD/NVLD and learning that I likely had it...I was reading Dr. Byron Rourke's book "Non-Verbal Learning Disabilities....the Syndrome and Model". In this book....he mentions Quay's proposed personality disorder and basically implies that the characteristics associated with it are probably just manifestations of the NLD syndrome. So in that sense....I was accurately self-dx-ed with NLD at 14. Anyway....I think they ought to just dx me with Asperger's syndrome already and get it over with. I also have sensory issues (albeit relatively mild ones) and i've always had trouble with eye contact. There seems to be only one reason all the psychologists i've seen (and who have tested me) did not dx me with Asperger's. That is....they CLAIM I don't exhibit any of the stereotyped and repetitive pattern of behaviors, interests and activities. Again....I fervently disagree with this for reasons I need not mention here.....but i'm not the one making the formal dx-es ofcourse.


Anyway....I think the way it works with schizoid pd is this: Some psychologists seem to believe there's a schizophrenic "spectrum" and that schizoid pd is on it and others don't. According to the current edition of the mental disorder bible known as the DSM-IV, "in some instances"....Schizoid Personality Disorder may appear as the premorbid antecedent of Schizophrenia. Also...individuals with schizoid pd may experience brief psychotic episodes, especially in response to stress. I suppose my own "psychotic signs" could be explained by this if they could truly be defined as such.

At any rate.....I wouldn't worry too much about developing "full-blown" schizophrenia even if you do have schizoid personality disorder. While apparently it is possible for some individuals (i've seen no stats on this....so I can't give you a % or anything) with SPD to develope schizophrenia, that's not a death sentence either. Schizophrenia is alot more treatable today than it once was. It can be managed and those with schizophrenia often live lives which are just as normal and fulfilling as anyone else's.

There are also things I don't fit for AS. I can handle changes in routine. I can handle metaphor. I have empathy. I have a theory of mind (I couldn't write fiction as well as I do without it). I just don't know what other "difference" would present with difficulties in eye contact and the sensory issues and social skills difficulties.

I'm 25.

Very informative post Horus. Thanks.

Haha! Get rid of that shrink.
Theres a thread somewhere on this site where a bunch of us describe the same sensation when having meltdowns. I don't think it's abnormal.. It's hightened body awareness due to a rush of horemones.. a fight or flight response.. goosebumps.

In any case, MizLiz, you could be on the edge of Aspergers. If the other diagnosis sounds that far off then discard it. Hang around here for a bit and find out what Asperger's is all about from the inside, and decide along the way.

Yes, exactly; those aren't hallucinations, they're more like... hmm... somatization, maybe? Whatever you call it when you experience stress as physical symptoms, like how some kids get tummy aches because they're scared of going to school. Any psychologist worth his salt needs to be able to tell the difference.

OddFiction wrote:

I got rid of her about a decade ago. She was a psychiatrist that OVR sent me to. The mental health specialists they have under contract often seem to leave something to be desired. IOW....you usually get what you pay for in America.

OTOH... the psychologist I mentioned was charging me $90.00 per hour back in the early 90's. He had a PhD. from Harvard and was one of the most respected psychologists in the large American city I was living in at the time. He never once suggested I had NLD, AS, or any ASD. Rather...he was the one who believed I had Narcisstic personality disorder and that I exhibited "psychotic signs" as well. Aside from depression and anxiety.....those are the only mental disorders he believed I was suffering from. I constantly insisted that my problems were neurologically-based and he dismissed this out of hand everytime. Finally after nine months of therapy....he told me he could no longer see me because I was "too complicated" for him. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but I never bothered to ask him. Perhaps he thought I just was resistant to his suggestions and felt that he could not help me if "I didn't want to help myself" or something like that. Well....it turns out I was right and the respected Harvard-educated psychologist was way off base.

He struck me as one of those freud-fetishizing psychologists too....complete with beard and all. Their ideas seem to be at least somewhat obsolete these days considering recent advances in neuropsychology/neurology, genetics and neuroimaging.




The fact that he believed I was experiencing depression and anxiety is hardly impressive. Any drunk on the street would likely see that much and if fact, quite a few have in terms of the latter at least. His other diagnostic impressions were questionable at best and they've never been suggested by any other psychologists who actually administered neuropsych/personality tests. Thus.....his exalted PhD. from Harvard seemed to be roughly worth the paper it was written on and that's about it.

Last edited by Horus on 14 Sep 2010, 3:52 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Only a reputable neuro/psych professional can determine your diagnosis. Generally, ASD and schizophrenia (and related) are incongruent! That is, one Dx precludes the other.

"Hallucination" is a vague term since plenty of people experience different sensory arrays - including yours truly. I know my senses and perceptions are not "normal" but, at the same time, I do experience frightening or intrusive thoughts or "receive signals/messages" from an outside source, as is indicative of schizophrenia; an important distinction.

About your (peculiar?) speculation at the end of OP. No - "lower down" on the spectrum does not imply, at all, any form of schizophrenic tendencies. Indeed, likely the opposite. That's really a misnomer.

I guess, if you are concerned (?) then ask a qualified and experienced psychiatrist (or related) who knows Autism/AS sensory differences so there's no confusion.

In all candor, hypothetically, if I were to reveal to any given psych that I sense numbers, see sounds and hear light (I do - it's synaesthesia) and did not disclose that I'm an Aspie, then I'm certain s/he would have other ideas. This incident did occur: Once I was taken to an ER for a physical complaint - the physician asked me "Do you hear voices?" I honestly thought he meant if I could hear voices - literally. As in, a question about my hearing. My hearing is just fine. I said, with sincerity, "Yes, I can hear your voice just fine." Not what he was thinking, at all. This sort of communication mix-up (between he and I) needed to be addressed so he did not make any weird assumptions. What he meant (but did not say) was, in effect, "Do you hear voices inside your mind from an unknown source that are frightening/scary that are directing you to do things you do not want?" Or something like that. Geez....how could I have known? I cannot read his mind - hence, my ASD.

Precisely. And if they do not know the difference the Therapist Slayer strikes

Whipping psychs into shape, the hard way. It's like Buffy the Vampire Slayer but scarier.

Yes, even the cold/logical Lab Pet has, or can have, hellish meltdowns. When stressed, meltdowns are pending and this skews my senses acutely. If any stranger were to view my meltdown they'd have "other thoughts," I know. But that's x < 2% of what I am. Carry a card in your wallet with your Dx and brief definiton of a meltdown so this confusion does not happen.

A job for the Therapist Slayer. It's a calling, just like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, really.

My last counsellor was a very kind and smart older man (really good - I so much appreciate him). Anyway, when I moved away I thought (along with my friend) that we could get him a T-shirt that reads "I survived the Therapist Slayer"

That sounds like the thing I call "audio-proprioceptive synesthesia". My neurologist doesn't recognize it, but loud noises produce physical effects. Right now, my mom's yelling at the dog and I feel like I'm going to throw up. Crying babies give me a pushing sensation, snow plows are just like an incredible amount of pressure all over my entire body like I'm being crushed and don't get me started on running water and vacuum cleaners.

There are good things to this though. Pleasant voices are ALMOST orgasmic.

I used to think for awhile that I had SPD. But a few months ago during my last visit to my psychiatrist, he urged me to look at asperger's syndrome because he was adamant that I didn't have SPD. During my searches of asperger's, I discovered the idea of the autistic spectrum and this forum. I have seen that many people here have been diagnosed with different things that were on the spectrum, and everyone's symptoms were not exactly the same. A lot of the symptoms mimic SPD and other personality disorders, and I'm starting to believe that these disorders are really variations of HFA, asperger's, or PDD. I'm not sure what schizophrenia has to do with SPD, I didn't think there was much of a connection except a slightly higher risk for it, which is kind of understandable considering the life an average SPD sufferer might lead. I think it just makes more sense.