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Schizoid personality disorder (SPD)
Schizoid personality disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder
characterised by a detachment from social interactions and a tendency
towards a solitary lifestyle. Specifically, SPD is characterised by at
least three of the following:
- Emotional coldness, detachment or reduced affectivity.
- Limited capacity to express either positive or negative emotions towards
others.
- Consistent preference for solitary activities.
- Very few (if any) close friends or relationships, and a lack of desire
for such.
Indifference to either praise or criticism.
- Taking pleasure in few, if any, activities.
- Indifference to social norms and conventions.
- Preoccupation with fantasy and introspection.
- Lack of desire for sexual experiences with another person.
This description is provided by the ICD-10 (International Classification
of Diseases).
SPD is relatively rare compared with other personality disorders, being
estimated at less than 1% of the general population. It is believed by
some to correlate with the INTJ and INTP personality types in the
Myers-Briggs type indicator. SPD is far more common amongst males than
females, although this could be due in part to the fact that schizoid
symptoms are far less socially acceptable in women.
SPD shares several aspects with depression, avoidant personality
disorder and Asperger's Syndrome, and can be difficult to distinguish
from these other disorders. However, there are some important
differentiating features:
Unlike depression, SPD does not involve feelings of helplessness,
worthlessness or sadness. People with SPD do not generally consider
themselves inferior to others, although they will probably recognise
that they are different.
Unlike avoidant personality disorder, those affected with SPD do not
avoid social interactions due to anxiety or feelings of incompetence,
but because they are genuinely indifferent to social relationships.
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Unlike Asperger's Syndrome, SPD does not involve physical symptoms such
as hand-flapping or lack of eye-contact, and sufferers of SPD are not
awkward in social situations (although they may well be bored). SPD does
not affect the ability to express oneself or communicate effectively
with others, and is not believed to be related to any form of autism.
It is disputed whether SPD should be considered a "disorder" at all,
since it does not necessarily involve any suffering either for the
affected individual or those around him. Many people are critical of
society's tendency to pathologise certain personality traits simply
because they are not compatible with the status quo. However in some
cases, strong SPD symptoms may result in an affected person living a
dull and unfulfilling life.
There is also disagreement about the relationship between SPD and
schizophrenia. Some argue that the two conditions are entirely unrelated
except by the origin of the word (meaing "split", in the case of SPD it
is the individual that is "split" from society, rather than the actual
mind being damaged), while others maintain that SPD exhibits a subset of
the symptoms of schizophrenia and may, in rare cases, be an indicator of
the onset of the more serious disease.
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