Hello I m Darren Magee and todays topic is looking at schizotypal personality disorder.
Now if you like this video if you find it helpful please click like and please consider
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from a mental health professional, nor is it a tool to be used to diagnose someone.
So schizotypal personality disorder is part of the cluster A group of personalities, along
with paranoid personality disorder and schizoid personality disorder. And these are characterised
by odd, eccentric thinking and behaviour. People with schizotypal personality disorder
find it hard to form relationships so tend to have few if any friends or close relationships.
And they don t always recognise the impact of their behaviour on others. Sometimes it
might look like a lack of empathy. They can find it hard to trust others, can misinterpret
other peoples behaviours and motives. This means it can often be mistaken for paranoid
personality disorder They can be prone to depression, there can
be drug and alcohol misuse. In times of stress, they can sometimes experience temporary psychotic
episodes. People with schizotypal personality may have severe anxiety and a tendency to
avoid social situations, as they hold peculiar beliefs and may have difficulty responding
appropriately to certain social cues. It can also be co morbid with anxiety disorder,
paranoid personality disorder, schizoprenia, to name but a few.
Now according to DSM 5 there are ten criteria that make up schizotypal personality disorder,
five or more have to be met in order to make a diagnosis. And the criteria that s being
met must be long term, pervasive and consistent. I often think of a disorder as the impact
it has on a person s day to day functioning, the impact it has on their relationship with
themselves as well as with others. So the first criteria is being a loner and
lacking close friends outside of the immediate family. Now this can look like living an isolated
life, involved in isolated activities due to a social anxiety. Now in their early years
they may have been an under achiever, regardless of their level of ability, but that might
have been out of fear of standing out too much, or the fear of being bullied or being
teased. Secondly, there are flat emotions or limited
or inappropriate emotional responses. Now these are limited responses, again, lacking
the ability to pick up on social cues or an awareness of the impact of their words or
their behaviours on others. Again it might look like a lack of empathy, but there s no
real frame of reference or awareness for what an appropriate response to a particular situation
might be. Thirdly, persistent and excessive social anxiety.
Now this is a constantly fearing say being judged or criticised, the fear of being attacked
verbally or physically. Fearing that any social interaction is gonna badly for them. So they
prefer to be alone. Now the thing is, this anxiety doesn t really improve over time or
familiarity with the people that they re mixing with.
Next criteria is an incorrect interpretation of events, such as a feeling that something
that is actually harmless or inoffensive has a direct personal meaning.
Now again, similar to paranoid personality where someone with schizotypal personality
can misread cues, tones of voice, facial expressions and suspect mal intent. So something said,
you know, whether it s innocuous, you know, can have them believing there is some kind
of personal dig against them. Then when something does happen, maybe doesn t go their way at
times they might believe it s been part of a personalised plot against them.
Criteria number five, peculiar, eccentric or unusual thinking, beliefs or mannerisms.
Now there s odd beliefs about things, how things happen, why they happen which can make
it even harder for them to have connections with others
Next criteria is suspicious or paranoid thoughts and constant doubts about the loyalty of others
Now again, similar to paranoid personality, there is the belief that others, even others
showing kindness, concern, good manners, they have sinister agenda. It can be an ingrained
belief that others can, therefore will betray them somehow, it is only a matter of time.
Criteria number seven, a belief in special powers, such as mental telepathy or superstitions.
Now this can be something like believing they can read minds, so they know what other people
s real motives and intentions are, they may think they have the ability to predict the
future or influence events by just through the power of thought.
Now something could happen to someone, someone they know, or they may see something on the
news and believe that they are responsible for it happening because of how they were
thinking. Or they may believe that others are maybe
clairvoyant, they can read minds and are monitoring them or interfering in their lives somehow.
There can be belief in superstitions, now I guess maybe we all do to some level but
this to a large degree, where that belief in the superstition it s almost that it s
a fact. Now the difference with schizoprenia say,
would be that someone with schizotypal personality can be open to new information, open to facts
and they change their mind about something, they reappraise a situation or belief.
Number eight, unusual perceptions, such as sensing an absent person's presence or having
illusions Now often confused with psychotic episodes,
they might believe they hear something that isn t there, or see events happening in a
strange way. But the thing to remember is, it s not the belief, or the frame of reference,
it s actually the perception of the situation that is different.
Criteria number nine, dressing in peculiar ways, such as appearing unkempt or wearing
oddly matched clothes. Now as well as eccentric behaviour, someone
with schizotypal personality can at times dress eccentrically as well. They might wear
a heavy overcoat on the hottest day of the year. They may wear odd socks or shoes. They
may wear two watches. The colours, styles of clothes just don t match. They may in fact
wear maybe ordinary clothes but the wrong size, so they appear dishevelled, or wear
the same clothes all the time, never changing them.
And lastly, criteria number ten. A peculiar style of speech, such as vague or unusual
patterns of speaking, or rambling oddly during conversations. Now yeah there may be mumbling
when someone is talking to them, but it s not necessarily that they re being incoherent
or speaking nonesense. Because when they re talking they can either over elaborate things
or they can be very vague, or even ambiguous when talking.
So that s a brief outline of schizotypal personality disorder. Now typically it s diagnosed in
early adulthood and it is likely to endure across the lifetime. However, though treatment,
such as medications and therapy, the symptoms can improve.
And like I said earlier they can be open to new information. They can be open to reappraise
and challenge their beliefs. If you have any comments, if you have any
questions anything you would like to add please use the comment box below there have been
some interesting conversations starting around these videos.
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for future updates on mental health related topics and until next time, thanks for watching.