Schizoid and Avoidant Personality Disorders

[GrandizerII]

When many of us hear "personality disorder", there are those that come to mind easily (Cluster B personality disorders, whether it's antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder), and then there are the other two Clusters we don't hear much about (or at least I don't) in normal discourses about psychological disorders. They were mentioned when I was majoring in psychology back a few years ago, and even then the lecturer didn't really say as much as I would have loved him to about these interesting disorders. The DSM obviously mentions them as well, but you know the DSM ... hard to access (if not a student of psychology), and not exactly the best book to learn about disorders (it's more for psychologists/psychiatrists to use for diagnosis and such).

So Google is probably the best way to stumble upon articles that delve into all the stuff you want to know about these disorders. For this thread, let's discuss both Schizoid and Avoidant Personality Disorders because I find these two to be elusively interesting, quite similar to each other, and because I still haven't read comprehensively enough about the rest of the Cluster A and C disorders.

Starting with Schizoid Personality Disorder, here are the DSM-5 criteria for it ( http://dsm.wikia.com/wiki/Schizoid_Personality_Disorder ):

A. A pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family.
Almost always chooses solitary activities.
Has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person.
Takes pleasure in few, if any, activities.
Lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives.
Appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others.
Shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity.

B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder or depressive disorder with psychotic features, another psychotic disorder, or autism spectrum disorder and is not attributable to the physiological effects of another medical condition.

Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of schizophrenia, add "premorbid," e.g., "schizoid personality disorder (premorbid)."

So to be diagnosable with schizoid personality disorder (keeping in mind that the general criteria for personality disorders also apply), one has to consistently and pervasively meet at least four of the criteria mentioned in section A. with this pattern of detachment not due to the conditions mentioned in section B.

For Avoidant Personality Disorder ( http://dsm.wikia.com/wiki/Avoidant_Personality_Disorder ):

A pervasive pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

Avoids occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection.
Is unwilling to get involved with people unless certain of being liked.
Shows restraint within intimate relationships because of the fear of being shamed or ridiculed.
Is preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social situations.
Is inhibited in new interpersonal situations because of feelings of inadequacy.
Views self as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others.
Is unusually reluctant to take personal risks or to engage in any new activities because they may prove embarrassing.

Oh, boy, do I know someone IRL just like that. A very sweet person, and needs a lot of encouragement and support.

So Schizoid PD is generally a pattern of detachment from social relationships. Unlike the Avoidant, the Schizoid suffers no fear of shame or ridicule or rejection from others. They just can't be fucked socializing with people. You could hurl insults at them, and they wouldn't give a damn. Praise them, and they're like "meh", lol.

The Avoidant, on the other hand, probably does desire to socialize with people, but they are always scared people will judge them negatively no matter what they say or do, and so they would rather keep themselves isolated and avoid socializing in order to avoid the potential pain of humiliation (whether misapprehended or not).

So both the Schizoid and the Avoidant are similar in that they would rather not socialize, but for different reasons. And unlike people with autism, both the Schizoid and the Avoidant possess good social intuition but probably not the best social skills as a result of isolation.

Interestingly, there seems to be not much of a difference between Avoidant Personality Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder, and I think the difference is generally more to do with AvPD being more about a pattern of isolation from others due to fear of shame and ridicule and feelings of inferiority, whereas SAD is more focused on the social anxiety aspect (the fear of socializing in the moment) without necessarily the pervasive feeling of inferiority or whatever.

So yeah, anyone want to share something relevant, or correct me on something? I'm all ears.

[The Industrial Atheist]

I was going to say most of that stuff doesn't apply to me but when I really think about it a lot of it does. A lot of the rest has in the past.

I got Schizoid mixed up with Avoidant when I was scrolling I think. The Avoidant part applies to me more than the Schizoid part and I have Schizoaffectve Bipolar type 2.

One big thing is I'm definitely very sensitive to praise and criticism.  Maybe years ago I didn't feel much need for friends. That was a clusterfuck of taking meds that made me a zombie and also didn't work. It's hard to want to do anything when you're half to three quarters asleep most of the time.

[brewer]

SPD are focused more internally, APD focused somewhat more externally. 

One of them has more toys.

[shadow]

When it comes to personality disorders, what kinds of things influence these? And at what point does someone's personality become a disorder, as opposed to just the extreme end of a range of personalities? Like, is there something specific that causes these beyond what would just cause someone to have their natural personality?

[Jackalope]

And at what point does someone's personality become a disorder, as opposed to just the extreme end of a range of personalities?

It's determined by the degree of distress and impairment of personal, social, or occupational function.

[brewer]

When it comes to personality disorders, what kinds of things influence these? And at what point does someone's personality become a disorder, as opposed to just the extreme end of a range of personalities? Like, is there something specific that causes these beyond what would just cause someone to have their natural personality?

They send you out in public then count the number of people that stare, point and laugh.

My record is 11.

[shadow]

When it comes to personality disorders, what kinds of things influence these? And at what point does someone's personality become a disorder, as opposed to just the extreme end of a range of personalities? Like, is there something specific that causes these beyond what would just cause someone to have their natural personality?

They send you out in public then count the number of people that stare, point and laugh.

My record is 11.

 

Make that 12.

[brewer]

They send you out in public then count the number of people that stare, point and laugh.

My record is 11.

 

Make that 12.

Ya know, I'm OK with that.

But hate it when they start screaming and pulling out their hair. That's an automatic 72 hour hold.

[GrandizerII]

When it comes to personality disorders, what kinds of things influence these? And at what point does someone's personality become a disorder, as opposed to just the extreme end of a range of personalities? Like, is there something specific that causes these beyond what would just cause someone to have their natural personality?

As Cthulhu said, one thing about personality disorders is their potential to cause considerable distress and have an impact on functioning in certain domains of life. They're also not prone to change over time and tend to be relatively stable and consistent. Some of the PDs also tend to have a strong impact on surrounding people (family and friends) as well (but this is not explicitly stated in the general criteria for PDs).

The DSM-5 Criteria for PDs ( http://www.psi.uba.ar/academica/carreras...al/dsm.pdf ):

The essential features of a personality disorder are impairments in personality (self and interpersonal) functioning and the presence of
pathological personality traits. To diagnose a personality disorder, the following criteria must be met:

A. Significant impairments in self (identity or self-direction) and interpersonal (empathy or intimacy) functioning.

B. One or more pathological personality trait domains or trait facets.

C. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are relatively stable across time and
consistent across situations.

D. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are not better understood as
normative for the individual's developmental stage or socio-cultural environment.

E. The impairments in personality functioning and the individual's personality trait expression are not solely due to the direct
physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., severe head
trauma).

The DSM-IV criteria (same document):

A. An enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior the deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual's culture. This pattern is manifested in two (or more) of the following areas:

1. Cognition (i.e., ways of perceiving and interpreting self, other people and events)

2. Affectivity (i.e., the range, intensity, liability, and appropriateness of emotional response)

3. Interpersonal functioning

4. Impulse control

B. The enduring pattern is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations.

C. The enduring pattern leads to clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of
functioning.

D. The pattern is stable and of long duration, and its onset can be traced back at least to adolescence or early adulthood.

E. The enduring pattern is not better accounted for as a manifestation or consequence of another mental disorder.

F. The enduring pattern is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., head trauma).