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Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Posted by Helping Psychology in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX on Mar 26, 2009

Schizotypal personality disorder usually begins in the stages of early adulthood and may go on throughout the rest of their life. The minimum amount of time that several of the symptoms have to be present to diagnose schizotypal personality disorder is one year. Many patients think they are dealing with anxiety or depression, but find out they have schizotypal personality disorder.
The cause of schizptypal personality disorder is not just pinpointed down to one thing. Some say it is genetic tendencies plays a big role in the personality development.

The environment that the individual grew up in also plays a role on it, such as chills abuse, child neglect or a childhood trauma, and even having a emotionally detached parent.

One method is medication. There is not a specific drug that is used to treat for this disorder, but some doctors will prescribe the antipsychotic or antidepressant medication.

Schizotypal personality disorder is a type of milder disorder than schizophrenia. It is a serious condition that some people get diagnosed with that they tend to have few to no intimate relationships. They seem to turn away from interaction with others and have extreme anxiety in social surroundings. People with schizotypal personality disorder seem to be emotionally distant. It is painful to them to have such social isolation and then develop different perceptions on relationships and how they form. There are many symptoms that a person will experience with schizotypal personality disorder that relates a lot to schizophrenia. These symptoms are such as telepathy, having odd fantasies or beliefs, paranoia, unusual appearance, such as mismatched outfit, or layered clothes, and not having any close friends. An anti-psychotic drug is used on patients that have psychotic manifestations that are uncontrollable like anxiety, depression or their distorted thinking.

Psychotherapy is a therapy used to help build a trust between the patient and therapist so the individual that has schizotypal personality disorder will start to feel comfort and trust in a relationship.

Behavior therapy helps the individual learn interpersonal skills and behaviors, since most people with schizotypal disorder has problems with responding appropriately to social cues. This will help them to express feelings or adjust their voices or facial expressions in a reaction that is appropriately.

Family therapy is when a family member is involved in the therapy of the specific indivial that is diagnosed with the disorder. Sometimes this helps discrete any angry confrontations in the home. It will give the personality individual reassurance.

Cognitive therapy focuses the person with schizotypal personality disorder to exercises that help tear down those distorted thoughts and paranoia. It helps clarify social confusion.
Group therapy is also a good form of therapy for the patient. Whatever therapy that is chosen for the person with this disorder it is best if they get their help as soon as they can. If you notice any of these symptoms in a friend or family member suggest in a nice manner for them to go get an evaluation from a doctor. There is help and they don't need to suffer through this disorder.

Article courtesy of Helping Psychology