Schizotypal Personality Disorder (STPD)

Certain people with schizotypal personality disorder are usually described as odd or weird and usually have a low amount of good relationships. They typically don't understand how relationships are constructed. They also may misinterpret others' motivations, developing significant distrust of others. These problems may lead to severe anxiety, as the person with STPD responds inappropriately to social situations and holds odd beliefs. STPD is diagnosed in early adulthood and likely to continue, but symptoms might get better with age. Medications and therapy also may help. Someone who has great difficulty in establishing and maintaining close relationships with others characterizes Schizotypal personality disorder. A person with schizotypal personality

disorder may have extreme discomfort with such relationships, and therefore have less of a capacity for them. Someone with this disorder usually has cognitive or perceptual distortions as well as eccentricities in their everyday behavior. Individuals with Schizotypal Personality Disorder often have ideas of reference (e.g., they have incorrect interpretations of casual incidents and external events as having a particular and unusual meaning specifically for the person). People with this disorder may be unusually superstitious or preoccupied with paranormal phenomena that are outside the norms of their subculture. Individuals with Schizotypal Personality Disorder often seek treatment for the associated symptoms of anxiety, depression, or other dysphoric affects rather than for the personality disorder features per say. A personality disorder is an enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates from the norm of the individual’s culture. The pattern is seen in two or more of the following areas: cognition; affect; interpersonal functioning; or impulse control. The enduring pattern is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations. It typically leads to significant distress or impairment in social, work or other areas of functioning. The pattern is stable and of long duration, and its onset can be traced back to early adulthood or adolescence.