# Anxiety Disorders > Social Anxiety Disorder >  >  who here can say they're *not* schizoid

## enfield

after reading this chart

nzjSg0V.png

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## Otherside

Don't self DX a personality disorder. As it is, Schizoid's generally don't feel the need for social interaction. A lot of people with SA don't have it.

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## enfield

but what about........ this! 

7rYOZ8X.jpg

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## enfield

schizoid pd is confusing i think because there are differences between how those with it present themselves and then how they feel. the diagnosis is made based based on the appearance. the outward symptoms. but once you get them in therapy then you find out they're not really what they seem. that's why there's the contrast between the 'covert' and 'overt' signs in the chart. the overt ones are the ones which you can see. the covert ones are the hidden feelings that seem to also be characteristic of the disorder. these add a lot of dimension to it. if you just look at the first set of symptoms without the second set you don't get a good sense of what schizoid pd is about. but for the sake of making diagnosis this complexity is forgone. 





> Guntrip observed that the preceding characteristics result in loneliness: "Loneliness is an inescapable result of schizoid introversion and abolition of external relationships. It reveals itself in the intense longing for friendship and love which repeatedly break through. Loneliness in the midst of a crowd is the experience of the schizoid cut off from affective rapport."[38] This is a central experience of the schizoid that is often lost to the observer. Contrary to the familiar caricature of the schizoid as uncaring and cold, the vast majority of schizoid persons who become patients express their longing for friendship and love.

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## kc1895

> Don't self DX a personality disorder. As it is, Schizoid's generally don't feel the need for social interaction. A lot of people with SA don't have it.



True.  Those are very generalized assumptions about Schizoid PD.  You don't want to label yourself, and you shouldn't let a doctor's label define you either.

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## infamous

I don't know, I think it could be the opposite as in covert are the ones shown externally.
I can pretend that I enjoy and find pleasure in socializing because if I don't, society would look at me weird but deep down inside, I'd much rather be by myself most of the time.

The media puts a huge emphasis on human in having a social life, partying, having sex and will oppress schizoids, deeming them as abnormal due to their natural behavior since they prefer the opposite. So I can see why in a vulnerable setting, they would express their longing for friends.

However i dont even know if i'm a schizoid, i usually get a high score for it when i do those personality test for what it's worth. but i agree with the others, a schizoid isn't something you wanna label yourself, especially with someone with SA as I feel like they would use it as a defensive mechanism.

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## acristacat

me.  where did you get that chart?  i like it and would like to see more.  

no personality disorders I believe here, anxiety, mood and substance abuse for myself.

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## acristacat

> but what about........ this! 
> 
> 7rYOZ8X.jpg



okay, now i REALLY want to know this one.  haha.  except for a couple of the bulletins perhaps, this one hits closer to home!

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## acristacat

oh okay, i see now, nvm lol  ::D:

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## Otherside

I might be wrong, but as with most disorders, I think there's an exclusion line that says that it's not schizoid if it's during an episode of anxiety, Autism, Aspergers, etc etc. 

As it is, not sure it exists anymore in DSM-V.

And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do NOT do personality disorder tests online. They ask you yes or no and rate yourself questions and then score you highly for the majority of the personality disorders. If you think you have a PD and it's affecting your life/other people, go and see a psychiatrist. Do not rely on and internet test.

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## enfield

the chart's just from wikipedia. doesn't that look like a wikipedia chart? the blue bullet points and links, the footnote at the top, the greyness of the grid lines, the font. its pretty unmistakably of wikipedia origin.

i love the contrasts between the inner and outer life or the covert and overt symptoms. it's great. i think this is one of the good ones to have. its almost redeeming in some ways to know you're this because you might have thought im a boring person. i act boring, people think im boring, and so i must be boring. but then to learn you have this opens up a whole new possibility. you only SEEM boring but actually all those covert feelings that no one ever took notice of that you didn't think made you any less boring since it made no difference to the world whether you thought those things or not? those feelings actually make you something interesting. because it contrasts so much with your behaviors which are boring it tells you could be schizoid. i would take that over being nothing. wouldn't you? now you can get treated and maybe work on bridging the distance between how you present and how you feel. you never thought you could do this before since you just assumed you were boring but now you know that's not exactly true.  there's something inside of you,  and if you could get it out maybe you could be somebody.

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## sanspants

> Don't self DX a personality disorder. As it is, Schizoid's generally don't feel the need for social interaction. A lot of people with SA don't have it.



Exactly. As a general rule, people with schizoid personality disorder don't spend their time worrying about conforming or not comforming to social norms, etc., either. Otherwise I can pick on the point about appearing to be "engrossed in fantasy." Most people with anxiety disorders are overtly pretty reactive to what's going on around them. The fact that we're not "in our own worlds" goes back to what Otherside says about the need for social interaction. I think most of us are here because we have issues with it--that we care about deeply, and need to conquer in order to "feel normal."

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## Dane

No, I don't think I'm schizoid.  I have some of those characteristics, but others I don't have at all.

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## enchanted

I don't have Schizoid's .

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## sanspants

^Likewise. Not even kinda.

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## enfield

ugh i read this a year later and im even more shcizoid than i was b4

halp

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## infamous

try not to avoid society and it's demands
learn to put on a mask and socialize
make small goals to keep yourself busy

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## Misssy

yep that is me

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## Chantellabella

> Exactly. As a general rule, people with schizoid personality disorder don't spend their time worrying about conforming or not comforming to social norms, etc., either. Otherwise I can pick on the point about appearing to be "engrossed in fantasy." Most people with anxiety disorders are overtly pretty reactive to what's going on around them. The fact that we're not "in our own worlds" goes back to what Otherside says about the need for social interaction. I think most of us are here because we have issues with it--that we care about deeply, and need to conquer in order to "feel normal."



Well said.

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## Antidote

Not that anyone's interested, but the latest research shows that schizoid personality disorder is actually just misdiagnosed autism. And also, there's a big overlap between these things and social anxiety.

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