Schizotypal personality disorder is characterised by a desire to live isolated from others, social anxiety, unconventional beliefs and odd thinking and behaviour. Examples include superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy or having a sixth sense. According to the American Psychological Association, approximately 3% of the population have this disorder.
If you have schizotypal personality disorder, your speech pattern is likely to be strange and difficult for others to follow. You may have trouble orienting your thoughts in a logical manner, and run in tangents. Your affect will be bland or inappropriate to situations, such as laughing at your own problems.
Under stress, those with schizotypal personality disorder may have hallucinations or delusional thoughts. However these are brief, unlike those of schizophrenia. You may talk or gesture to yourself as if you live in your own world.
Schizotypal personality disorder is most common amongst those with a family member who has schizophrenia. Therefore, there may be a genetic component.
Early childhood family dynamics may also play a role. If you have schizotypal personality disorder you may have had experiences of indifference, overt formality or impassivity. You may have been shunned by others, overlooked, rejected or humiliated by others, meaning that you felt low self-esteem and withdrew from others. You felt more comfortable projecting inwards than with the rest of the world.
