Diagnosis: Schizoid Personality Disorder, ouch...

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Hi all,

I've posted some questions back in November in the Autism section about Asperger's since I suspected AS. However, after doing my testing they said it's Schizoid Personality Disorder. They ruled out Asperger's because I scored high above average on the Executive Function tests and I'm clearly capable of detecting and using emotions and social clues I just lack the drive to use these skills in life. I'm extremely introverted, I live in my little world and I escape into my internal fantasy world all the time. I have no need for human contact, love, intimacy and my sex drive was always minimal. I suffer from anxiety and periods of deep depression and I feel best when I'm alone with no people in sight.

The testing was at a facility specializing in Autism Spectrum and Developmental Disorders and the process was long: 4 appointments, total over 10h of testing and interviews with both a psychologist and a psychiatrist (both PhD level) so it seems pretty thorough and I'm ready to accept the diagnosis. They will have complete written report and recommendations in couple of weeks.

But from what I have read so far SPD is not fun and it tends to get worse with age. I'm 44 and can't stand human contact and my need for isolation seems to increase progressively during my life and it's more intense now than ever. I just want to be alone, nothing else matters much. I'm currently on sick leave due to debilitating anxiety and inability to do my job, although I got a little better since I've been away from work. I might consider long term disability for a while. But I have no clue what to do next. They said that old school psychoanalysis helps, medications usually don't work and the only way to lower the anxiety and depression is to fulfill the need for isolation.

Is anyone here with SPD? How are you living with it?

Thanks,
Adam

Do you get lonely?

No, I don't. I like to be alone and do stuff by myself.

There are three types of schizoids, I was told. One type doesn't require relationships and has no need for friendship and love; and functions best when he/she is alone and self-dependent. There is focus on "self-dependent" and "enjoying activities alone". This type accepts marriage, for example, that is based on reason, mutual benefit, recreation, professional ties, etc. but not on love and intimacy. And yeah, I married my wife not because I loved her but because it made sense: she's quiet, doesn't require a lot of attention from me and we both tolerate each other. And it's actually working quite well for 6 years now. Most of the time we have little or no intimacy at all. She may have some type of "different personality" too, but she has no anxiety or depression issues as I do.

Before I got married again I would sometimes feel lonely but it was not to the point of being a problem. It wasn't profound and intense and I always found something to do to occupy me. Even now that I'm married, we do a lot of things separately. She goes out with her girlfriends while I stay home and play with my computers or go hiking or biking by myself. I don't enjoy any activities unless I do them alone.

Just like with Aspergers, to be diagnosed with SPD you don't have to have all typical symptoms but some key symptoms.

And besides, after all the testing and interviews this is the only type of personality disorder that I fit. There is clearly something wrong/different about me and this is the closest match. They arrived at this basically by eliminating all others.

It makes sense in many ways and validates my initial plan of action: save up some money, move out from NYC and get a quieter job that will keep me occupied but as isolated as possible.

I was just wondering if there are others here with SPD and how they live with it. I understand that a lot of people with SPD don't consider having a problem and don't require help unless it causes anxiety and depression due to environmental factors.

Sorry, there are two types, not three:

Overt Schizoid - this is the type that doesn't need social interactions
Covert Schizoid - this is the type that needs love and affection and gets lonely

Although I have some symptoms from both types

See Wikipedia, they have a table with symptoms for both types: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_p ... y_disorder

There is also another classification into four types, but I don't understand that one.

That is a coincidence indeed. I have to tell you that, although this diagnosis is a bit troubling, I feel better finally from having a diagnosis backed by some testing. I felt lost for a long time and I felt I wasn't getting anywhere and I had major crisis in November. I'd advise that, besides talking to someone, you also look for a place that does testing: ADOS, personality and cognitive testing. Many Autism/AS specialists can tell you whether or nor you have AS, but if you don't, they won't be able to tell you what else it might be.

But be persistent, don't give up if you don't agree with the diagnosis or feel not enough was done to get to the bottom of your troubles. Seek another opinion, even it'll cost you extra it might be worth it, because knowing and understanding what is happening to you will greatly help you deal with it.

AS and SPD have lot of overlapping/common symptoms but the main difference is that people with AS lack the Executive Functioning and social skills but many, if not most, are curious about them and want to learn them while people with SPD have those skills but have no drive and no need to utilize them.

Many people with SPD can appear 100% NT when interacting with others because they have an outer personality that shields their inner personality that is often based on rich and elaborate internal fantasy world and has a strong need to be isolated from the influences of the external world. The outer personality can use the social skills just fine, but it's a fake. That's what's troubling about SPD: it can evolve into schizophrenia, luckily though, it's rare. It's not exactly dual/split personality kind of issue, it's much more elaborate and finer phenomenon.

So the Schizoid's outer personality can be confused with an Aspie's cognitive compensation mechanism: Aspies learn to compensate for their lack of emotional and social skills by understanding them and learning them using logic and cognition. That's what fixated me on the idea that I have AS. Both of the above take a toll on the mind as they are cognitively demanding and cause mental fatigue and burnout that lead to anxiety and anxiety leads to depression (generally through lack of sound sleep).

Another thing that made me think about AS is my sensitivity to stimuli, sensory overloads and trouble with multitasking. But on the tests I scored very high in those areas: on the ability to switch tasks, fast thinking, etc., and it was not consistent with my real-life experiences. But they made me think hard about my past, if I was always like that. It seems that I wasn't really, just the last 10 years or so, and that's result of the persistent anxiety. Anxiety leads to the sensory sensitivity which is again closely related to lack of proper sleep in all those years.

Good luck to you. I hope you will find the relief, the help and the guidance you need to take steps in your life to address your unique needs. Be well.

Have you deleted your last post? I saw it and I wanted to comment but it's gone.

From what I was told, people with SPD don't necessarily have intense special interests, unlike people with AS. Presence or absence of intense special interests and patterns of repetitive behavior is not part of SPD diagnosis, it seems. You may or may not have those and still have SPD.

Although, it's probably better if you do because that would keep you occupied and prevents you from spending too much time inside your fantasy world. I know I have to keep busy or I'll start daydreaming big time.

I was told that ideal job for me would be something linear that would keep me occupied without too much multitasking while keeping me relatively isolated. A librarian or forest ranger would be perfect jobs for me. Occasional human contact is not a problem.

I came to a similar conclusion about the social skills. I'm pretty sure I have at least the basic social skills, it's just that I don't use them because I want to be alone all the time and focus on THINGS rather than people. I'm not so sure about the "fake" aspect of schizoid behaviour. Society expects a certain level of social interaction (ie saying 'hello') so it's not really fake if one interacts sociably even when one doesn't want to. It's just meeting natural demands from others in a polite and unobtrusive way to avoid trouble (such as people disliking you for being rude). I always thought that a true schizoid would set up a real false self out of a wish to be invisible to others, ie to hide behind a fake personality (a bit like what poker players do when they bluff). What I've always thought of as an "autistic" withdrawal into aloneness doesn't need to involve that at all.

Yes, I did delete it, because I hadn't seen your reply and it didn't constitute a reply to your reply, so I wrote another one. If that makes sense.

It was mainly the special interests (and the strange stimming behaviours since early childhood) which led me away from the idea it was SPD. There seems to be a fair bit of overlap between SPD and AS and I'm not sure the psychiatrists really know what causes either.

I was officially diagnosed with Schizoid Personality instead of AS when I was tested & most every psych, docs or other expert I saw agreed with that diagnoses. I think my Schizoid personality was a result of my AS & other things that people were not aware of when I was a kid. I had lots of problems getting along with others & was bullied a lot so I wanted to be left alone & I retreated into daydreaming as an escape; it was kind of an Aspie shut-down defense mechanize when the real-world became overwhelming for me. I was suffering a bad psychotic depression when I started seeing docs/psychs & they saw my Schizoid personality defense instead of my AS issues; basically they thought the Schizoid affect was my biggest problem instead of realizing that it was caused by AS. I doubt I would get diagnosed with Schizoid now thou because I became a lot less withdrawn as I got over my depression & some of my anxiety issues & started feeling more comfortable. It was a very gradual thing thou. Getting employed helped a lot because it got me out of the house around others & some of the people I worked with were nice so I very slowly started to let my guard down a little.

I've read a study that says a lot of people with Asperger's carry Schizotypal-like traits, and I always thought that the two categories share a lot in common. In non-clinical samples, people who are elevated in the asperger's symptoms tend to be elevated in schizotypal symptoms as well, suggesting the two disorders overlap. The study was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, titled The relationship of Asperger's characteristics and schizotypal personality traits in a non-clinical adult sample. I wouldn't be surprised if their was overlap with Schizoid as well, considering the similar symptoms between schizotypy and schizoids.

Asperger's and the other two diagnoses share a lot of similarities, impaired social interaction and isolation being the main one. I think people with Asperger's however tend to be more grounded in the concrete, and show more logical rather than divergent thought-processes, IMO.