/schizoid/ - Schizoid Personality Discussion Group

>>92
>Let's make a board for people who hate being around other people!

Based on what I've read, I think this is a mischaracterization of the schizoid personality type. Certainly, schizoids are capable of hating being around other people, but I'm not convinced that the schizoid personality type implies this trait. My current understanding is that a schizoid with this trait has it in addition to his schizoid personality traits, not necessarily as a result of the schizoid personality traits.

Wikipedia says in the first sentence of the schizoid personality article:
“Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, and apathy.” [emphasis mine]
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder

I consider a lack of interest in socialization to be different from hating socialization. Further down in the same article it says:
“Schizoid personality disorder has negative symptoms similar to those of schizophrenia, such as anhedonia, blunted affect and low energy,” [emphasis mine]
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder#Treatment

What's anhedonia? Wikipedia says:
“In psychology and psychiatry, anhedonia (/ˌænhiˈdoʊniə/ AN-hee-DOH-nee-ə; Greek: ἀν- an-, "without" and ἡδονή hēdonē, "pleasure") is defined as the inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, e.g. exercise, hobbies, music, sexual activities or social interactions.” [emphasis mine]
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia

Further down in the same article it elaborates on social anhedonia:
“Social anhedonia is defined as a trait-like disinterest in social contact and is characterized by social withdrawal and decreased pleasure in social situations. This characteristic typically manifests as an indifference to other people.[16] In contrast to introversion, a nonpathological dimension of human personality, social anhedonia represents a deficit in the ability to experience pleasure.[17] Additionally, social anhedonia differs from social anxiety in that social anhedonia is predominantly typified by diminished positive affect, while social anxiety is distinguished by both decreased positive affect and exaggerated negative affect.[18] This trait is currently seen as a central characteristic to, as well as a predictor of, schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.[19]” [emphasis mine]
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhedonia#Social_anhedonia

To go even further down this rabbit hole, I must explain that the schizoid personality type is considered to be within the “schizophrenia-spectrum”, although I would use the term “schizotypy spectrum”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizotypy
So with the above quote, my current understanding is that schizoid personality traits in the absence of another co-occurring condition would imply a neutral attitude to socialization. I hypothesize that this neutrality and lack of pleasure from socialization could mean it is very easy for a schizoid to want to pursue a different activity (or nothing at all) instead of socialization, and that if socialization is not exceedingly convenient, the anhedonia will prevent motivation for changing circumstances to allow for more socialization.

I'm not certain which specific condition might be implied by “people who hate being around other people”, but let's suppose it's social anxiety. The above quote says that it is distinguished from social anhedonia by decreased positive affect and exaggerated negative affect, while social anhedonia just implies decreased positive affect. The hatred of socialization could easily be a consequence of the exaggerated negative affect. So you might be referring to social anxiety (disorder).

All this is not to say that schizoid can't genuinely hate socialization though, just that the schizoid personality traits themselves don't appear to directly result in it. Individuals are unique and can easily have two or more conditions simultaneously. I recommend reviewing this comorbidity table of personality disorders for more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_disorder#Comorbidity
Of note is the high comorbidity rates of the schizoid personality type with avoidant personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, and paranoid personality disorder.

So even with all that said, I still feel I should justify making a board for people who are generally indifferent to socialization. I'll just tell you flat out one reason: I'm lonely. Sometimes my loneliness and anhedonia is so bad that I lay and sit around for hours staring at my computer screen doing nothing productive or exciting until I barely muster the motivation to get up after the sun begins rising and collapse into bed where I cry until I fall asleep so deeply it feels as though my heart stopped. This is the trial of my life. I must overcome it or fade away before achieving any lasting happiness. I don't know if anyone else coming here has suffered similarly; I'm just reaching out to other people in just about the only way the anhedonia will allow me.

Can some schizoids be lonely? I think some can be. Read this:
“Guntrip observed that the preceding characteristics result in loneliness: "Loneliness is an inescapable result of schizoid introversion and abolition of external relationships. It reveals itself in the intense longing for friendship and love which repeatedly break through. Loneliness in the midst of a crowd is the experience of the schizoid cut off from affective rapport."[28] This is a central experience of the schizoid that is often lost to the observer. Contrary to the familiar caricature of the schizoid as uncaring and cold, the vast majority of schizoid persons who become patients express at some point in their treatment their longing for friendship and love. This is not the schizoid patient as described in the DSMs. Such longing, however, may not break through except in the schizoid’s fantasy life, to which the therapist may not be allowed access for quite a long period in treatment.

There is a very narrow range of classic DSM-defined schizoids for whom the hope of establishing relationships is so minimal as to be almost extinct. The longing for closeness and attachment is almost unidentifiable to such a person. These individuals will not voluntarily become patients, as the schizoid individual who becomes a patient does so often because of the twin motivations of loneliness and longing. This type of patient believes that some kind of connection and attachment is possible and is well suited to psychotherapy. The psychotherapist, however, may approach the schizoid patient with a sense of therapeutic pessimism, if not nihilism, and may misread the patient by believing that the patient’s wariness is indifference and that caution is coldness.[27]”
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder#Guntrip_criteria

How can some schizoids simultaneously be indifferent to socialization and lonely? If you are puzzled, I suggest you read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder#Akhtar.27s_phenomenological_profile
It seems the schizoid personality can imply overt and covert manifestations of traits which can be seemingly contradictory. The interesting thing about an anonymous imageboard is that we may reveal our covert traits here more than we normally would.

>>94
They say we're preoccupied with fantasy.

It's true that I dream. I dream everyday. Although I can be actively participating in something, replying to what people say, and giving every indication of conscious engagement, I exist in two worlds simultaneously. My visions overtake the world around me and take me to a place of unrivalled beauty.

I found something precious in this dream. I may struggle and suffer, but this lifeline from the dreamworld keeps me stubbornly hanging on. The longer I suffer, the longer I dream. It's usually the same dream, and it keeps getting bigger and more detailed.

In exchange for normality, I realize I've been given something infinitely more valuable. I would never trade away this ethereal treasure so that the suffering would stop. Now all that I want in life is to see this dream merge with reality.

Finding people to come along with me is just part of the dream.

>>94
>So even with all that said, I still feel I should justify making a board for people who are generally indifferent to socialization. I'll just tell you flat out one reason: I'm lonely.

holy wall of text batman.. the "make a board for people who hate being around other people" is a bit of a schizoid joke man..
i get the loneliness and wanting to share with people with common traits, i was just saying dont expect too much "community" out of schizoids..

also .. stay away from the DSM and psychiatry in general.. it's pseudoscience at best

best thing i can tell you is find out what makes you happy, truly happy that doesnt involve being around others.. do that and others will suddenly start appearing

dont expect people "in your life" to change for you tho

>>94

You seen the images in the locked sticky? The image with the venn diagramm that relates ADD to aspergers and schizoid struck a chord with me. I'll tell you how I recognize all of them, if you can bear to read a little amphetamine induced rant.

A few months ago, at the age of 20, I had been strugling with my university study for a while. I had a lot of ADD symptoms like excessive fantasizing and daydreaming, lack of motivation, and alcohol and drug abuse. I lacked childhood symptoms though, except for the excessive daydreaming.

I went to a psychiatrist and got prescribed dexamphetamine, but she was reluctant to label me as ADD, and told me to also take an autism test. I could tell from her body language that she believed that I did not suffer from ADD, but at that time I did not believe I could have autism, since I scored only 23on the AQ test. I went to an ADHD help group, and while I could relate to them, their issue seemed different from mine. It seemed that they kept failing despite their best intentions, while for me the failure was in getting good intentions at all. I failed at getting even the slightest motivation. I lacked the passion and drive you need to succeed in life.

Later, I thought I might have aspergers instead of ADD. My best friend told me I suffered from rather severe mood swings: he identified a monotone, zombie-like state and a hyper, almost manic state. He told me I was always either warm and enthusiastic or cold and aloof, or somewhere inbetween. I had never noticed before, I always feel the same. My mom told me: "You never make eye contact. You look at the floor, you look at the ceiling, you look at the walls, but you don't look in my eyes". I also discovered that 3 of the 4 people that were my best friends in life had aspergers/autism. Somebody told me that my emotional volume was 1 or 2, where for other people it would be 8 or 9. Naturally, I concluded I must have aspergers instead of ADD, since that is related to not understanding your emotions very well.

Reading up on a certain piece about aspergers I found a lot of similarities. I felt like somebody had written the piece about me, except for the social parts. In social situations, especially when I am in a good mood, I am highly charismatic and can read people very well. However, I lack empathy. For example, if my best friend's dad died, I'd do all the things a best friend is supposed to do and console him, but it wouldn't share in his pain at all. My mom said she was sad that I didn't visit them for months, but I hardly cared and I still don't visit, because it's a bother.

I thought I must be a mixture between aspergers and a psychopath/narcissist, if such a thing exists. Then I discovered schizoid disorder existed, and the pieces fell into place. My lack of passion for family, for social situations and for university. My lack of empathy. My self-perceived flat emotional state. My grandiose and violent fantasies, bordering on narcissism. My theatricality and charm, because I have to exagerate my emotions to not come across as a boring robot, and I've become good at it. I can be highly Machiavellian. I see social interactions as a game, and I enjoy optimizing the outcome.

What I don't understand yet is my mood swings that go from lethargic and monotone to states of extreme enthusiasm and mania in which I can befriend anybody. When I'm in the right mood, I am literally the life of the party. Sadly I usually have to use drugs to induce those moods, because I can't enjoy social situations with even my best friends without being intoxicated or drugged.

If any of you bothered to read through my rant, I am wondering if any of you recognize my situation. Am I a schizoid, or am I simply deluding myself? Self-delusion is one of the things I excel at. I can't let my self-confidence crack, or I will risk the plunge into the abyss of depression.