Dexter is a TV series shown on the SHOWTIME cable network (the CBS broadcast is edited, flee it). Reason I brought that here is that I did not know that series until very recently, my DBA Extraordinaire pointed me to it, and I must admit, it relates very well to SPD on some levels. Do keep in mind:
1/ It’s a show, not reality.
2/ Yes the main character is schizoid, but he is also a serial killer… Something statistically not prone to happen often since, let’s face it… there is no logic in it! (and yet in the storyline there is some logical reasons for him to be one, exquisitely fitting indeed.)
So don’t go mixing things, we are already saw as freaks more than our share… Back on subject:
You want to get to know a bit more what is inside the head of a schizoid? Well put aside the fact that Dexter idiosyncratic activity is killing, and enjoy the narrative tone of the series that is perfect to hear his thoughts. The series is an adaptation of the book “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” by Jeff LINDSAY. In the book the personage is a bit more sordid, a bit less on the SPD side, but the screen writer James MANOS Jr. definitively added schizoid twists to the main character. Here are my favorite picks from the first two episodes of Season 1:
Dexter presenting himself: “I feel like I have a hollow place inside. People fake a lot of human interaction, but I feel like I fake them all, I do it very well too… And that is my curse I guess…”
Dexter’s boss has a crunch on him and has she winks at him, Dexter thinks ” I’d really like her to stop doing that, it’s one of those mating rituals which I really don’t understand…”
Looking at an empty box of donuts: “Just like me, empty inside”
Speaking of his foster sister: “She is really a sensible person, that’s why she is hiding behind a shell: So that people won’t see how sensible she is. Me, it’s quite the opposite, I use a shell so that people won’t see how sensible I am not…”
Still about his sister: “I don’t have feelings about anything, but if I could have feelings at all, I’d have them for her”.
Speaking of his “girlfriend”: “She was rapped repeatedly and banged around by a crack addict hubby. Since then she has no interest in sex at all… that works for meq …”
I haven’t get any further yet, but it is in the world of fiction, the closest thing I had seen to portraying schizoid traits (and again, please, put aside the serial killer thing).
May 19th, 2008 at 11:07
I’ve already seen the first two seasons and it even gets better!
It’s good to watch as I can relate to Dexter (apart from the serial killer part).
May 19th, 2008 at 11:20
I love this show! Clearly one of the most likeable serial killers on television or in movies…But most “normal” people wouldn’t think schizoid when they watch Dexter. They’re thinking “sociopath”, which then leads to “psychopath”, and a whole string of terrifying labels that close their minds to Dexter’s inner struggle. I watched Dexter before diagnosing myself with SPD and always wondered why I could relate to him so easily. I don’t know if you’ve seen the second season, but if you have, what do you think the English woman’s personality is like? Because she is a whole lot of crazy.
May 19th, 2008 at 21:19
Well I am just starting season 1, but my guess is I am gonna fly thru the two seasons very quickly
May 20th, 2008 at 10:32
It is quite addicting, but where is the third season? Don’t they know schizoids can’t wait?
October 13th, 2008 at 4:06
In the newest season, I can easily relate to how the Jimmy Smits character’s “brotherly” friendship is offputting and annoying to him. Those instances he experiences are so common to me when people want to be my friend or try to get too interested in my business. Either I don’t trust them for whatever reasons, or I suddenly feel an energy drain. It’s like these people guarantee further hassles and I need to make the phony smiles,etc.
Schizoids are a flavor of “sociopath”. In that, they have a pathology in regards to sociological interactions. We just aren’t the classic Ted Bundy types. Those are extreme cases of antisocial personality disorders.
BTW, Lila is probably Borderline Personality. Fear of rejection or abandonment. Probably the WORST match for an SDP.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:21
Good point! I also believe Dexter has a schizoid Personality disorder and not an antisocial personality disorder as I have seen posted somewhere else. Also, I think that Lila, the english woman from the 2nd season has a histrionic personality disorder. What’s your opinion?
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:12
here i am a girl and relating to Dex too. we only had season 1 here so far, in little ol’ NZ. (now its 2009!)
take away the serial killer action and Dex is still so me. Add the homicidality and i get a bonus. nice to find this blog- been thinking of myself as aspergian so long was getting bored with it. Thanks for Coming out from the inside.
April 5th, 2009 at 13:14
I agree about Lila’s caracter, very bad mix