While classified as a personality disorder, Schizotypal Personality Disorder is considered part of the schizophrenia spectrum. It involves a pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with close relationships, as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, but without overt psychosis.
Common Symptoms or Things to Look Out For:
- Ideas of reference (incorrect interpretations of casual incidents).
- Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior.
- Unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions.
- Odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical).
- Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation.
- Inappropriate or constricted affect.
- Behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar.
- Lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives.
- Excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity.