Aspie/Schizotypal?

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I seem to have traits of both Asperger's syndrome and Schizotypal Personality Disorder. I was wondering if there is anyone here who has both conditions. Maybe we could compare notes?

Well I'm sorry to say this:But I don't have schizo traits,but my Grandpa I know for is a schizo,he takes meds and he is also diabetic.Deep down in my heart,I will always love and cherish him,because those problems aren't what make my Grandpa.It's the good funny english and loveable gentleman personality that does.

You may be misunderstanding me. I'm not schizophrenic, I'm schizotypal.

Schizotypal PD, depending on who you ask, is either a personality disorder or a part of the schizophrenia spectrum, in the same way that Asperger's syndrome is part of the autism spectrum.

Your grandpa sounds like a nice guy, though. I'm glad that someone realizes that we aren't defined by our mental problems.

I've never been diagnosed with anything, but for a long time I sort of identified as having schizotypal PD, then later aspergers. I don't really believe in psychiatric labels though... they are just going to invent new ones. My understanding though is that DSM-IV says a person has one or the other but not both, so you are not likely to find someone diagnosed with both.

What do you want to know?

That's a good question. I guess I didn't have one thing in particular to ask.

Maybe this: I've always had traits of both Asperger's and schizotypal, but I've never been fully one or the other. Are there traits of either syndrome that are missing?

For me, I have only relatively mild ASD symptoms, don't have special interests in the same amount or intensity, and I've never had meltdowns or serious depressive episodes. For schizotypal, I'm not paranoid and seem to have no social anxiety. I have traits of both, but I'm not fully one or the other. That's why I say I'm a hybrid between aspie and schizotypal.

Well a few months ago I started looking up mental disorders because I decided I wanted to figure out what was so weird about me. At first Schizotypal PD seemed to fit......then I went into counseling and my counseler had me take this diagnostic test according to my answers on that Schzoid PD matched. Then I learned a bit about aspergers because my sister said she thought I might have that so I talked to my counseler about it and we came to the conclusion Aspergers was a better fit.

So yeah though I think aspergers is the right diagnosis I never did totally rule out those other two.....mainly because I can't seem to find info on what the main differences between these conditions are. But yeah it is safe to say I have symptoms of all those.

schizotypal traits:

-Inappropriate or constricted affect (the individual appears cold and aloof);
-Behaviour or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar;
-Poor rapport with others and a tendency to social withdrawal;
-Odd beliefs or magical thinking, influencing behaviour and inconsistent with subcultural norms;
-Suspiciousness or paranoid ideas;
-Obsessive ruminations without inner resistance, often with dysmorphophobic, sexual or aggressive contents;
-Unusual perceptual experiences including somatosensory (bodily) or other illusions, depersonalization or derealization;
-Vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped thinking, manifested by odd speech or in other ways, without gross incoherence;
-Occasional transient quasi-psychotic episodes with intense illusions, auditory or other hallucinations, and delusion-like ideas, usually occurring without external provocation.

The last three are a bit iffy but I think it describes me well enough.

Its not emphasized here but a trait I could identify a lot with is social anxiety that does not decrease or even increases with more socializing.

-Inappropriate or constricted affect (the individual appears cold and aloof);
-Behaviour or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar;
-Poor rapport with others and a tendency to social withdrawal;
-Odd beliefs or magical thinking, influencing behaviour and inconsistent with subcultural norms;
-Suspiciousness or paranoid ideas;
-Unusual perceptual experiences including somatosensory (bodily) or other illusions, depersonalization or derealization;

Those are the main symtoms I relate to but yeah some of those are simular to Aspergers..like a lot of times people think people with aspergers don't have any empathy so they sort of come off as cold and aloof. as for odd appearance and behavior that happens with aspergers to.

and I am not sure what this one means exactly:
-Obsessive ruminations without inner resistance, often with dysmorphophobic, sexual or aggressive contents;

I can appear cold and aloof, but it's not constant. I have the same capacity to feel basic emotions, with the exception being anger. I can't seem to get angry. Even on the rare occassions that I am angry, it doesn't show up in my face or body language. If I do make a face, the look is so ludicrous that I start giggling. Then the anger goes away. I'd say I have a constricted affect.

The eccentricity definitely fits! So does "odd beliefs and magical thinking" especially the "inconsistent with subcultural norm" part. I'm the otherwise conservative Christian who believes in indigo children and aliens from other dimesnions, among other things. Poor rapport with others fits as well.

Suspiciousness or paranoid ideas fit better when I was younger. I didn't expect people such as classmates or family members to be "out to get me", but I had (and still have, frankly) elaborate ideas about global conspiracies.

"Unusual perceptual experiences" fits okay. Although it may be related to what we'd call "tic disorder" rather than schizotypal.

I have speech that is hard to understand. It's mostly because I tend to talk very quickly, use large words, and drop movie dialogue and other such sayings into my speech. A bit hard to follow, but not the result of a thought disorder.

No psychotic episodes. One thing that I didn't see listed was "ideas of reference" which does fit me pretty well.

I was officially labelled schizotypal, but he didn't even check for Aspergers. Also, I only went to see him after several years of severe workplace bullying leading to me losing my job and having a breakdown. I had constant rage-filled fantasies of harming the bullies. He felt this indicated "psychotic tendencies" although I believe it's natural to have rage towards your tormentors.

He also asked me whether I felt that people were out to get me, and I honestly replied "yes" because my bullies were constantly trying to get me in trouble at work (and frequently succeeded). He asked me whether I felt that people were talking behind my back, and again I had to say "yes" because I frequently overheard my bullies discussing me with each other. He decided my answers meant I had "paranoid tendencies".

I later read that in order to diagnose schizotypal, they first must rule out Aspergers, which shares many similar traits. He didn't do this.