Explanation: People with schizotypal personality disorder are more comfortable turning away from others, rather than learning to have meaningful interpersonal relationships. This isolation contributes to distorted perceptions about how interpersonal relationships are supposed to happen. A person with schizotypal personality disorder has odd behaviors and thoughts that would typically be viewed by others as eccentric, erratic, and bizarre. They are known on occasion to have brief periods of psychotic episodes. Their speech, while coherent, is marked by a focus on trivial detail. Thought processes of schizotypals include magical thinking, suspiciousness, and illusions. These thought patterns are believed to be the schizotypal's unconscious way of coping with social anxiety. To some extent, these behaviors stem from being socially isolated and having a distorted view of appropriate interpersonal relations.
Causes: Schizotypal personality disorder is believed to stem from the affected person's original family, or family of origin. Usually the parents of the affected person were emotionally distant, formal, and displayed confusing parental communication. The social development of people with schizotypal personality disorder shows that many were also regularly humiliated by their parents, siblings, and peers resulting in significant relational mistrust. Many display low self-esteem, self-criticism and self-deprecating behavior. This further contributes to a sense that they are socially incapable of having meaningful interpersonal relationships.
How it is diagnosed: The symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder may begin in childhood or adolescence showing as a tendency toward solitary pursuit of activities, poor peer relationships, pronounced social anxiety, and underachievement in school. The bizarre thinking associated with schizotypal personality disorder can be perceived as a psychotic episode and misdiagnosed.
Symptoms: