Puzzling mindNote from the author: For more clarity I will leave this section “dry” as these are factual information fetched over the Net and in several publications, the need to comment on it is great but I shall do it in another section and/or a blog entry to avoid confusion.

The Schizoid Personality Disorder (SPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, and emotional coldness. SPD is reasonably rare compared with other personality disorders. Its prevalence is estimated at less than 1% of the general population (1993).

There are two main diagnostics criteria commonly used by psychologists to identify SPD: the ICD-10 (From the World Health Organization) and the DSM-IV-TR (a worldwide manual used by analysts to diagnose mental disorders). The later seems to be the more commonly accepted as the “standard” worldwide.

According to the ICD-10, schizoid personality disorder is characterized by at least four of the following criteria:

ICD-10 criteria
Emotional coldness, detachment or reduced affection.
Limited capacity to express either positive or negative emotions towards others.
Consistent preference for solitary activities.
Very few (if any) close friends or relationships, and a lack of desire for such.
Indifference to either praise or criticism.
Taking pleasure in few, if any, activities.
Indifference to social norms and conventions.
Preoccupation with fantasy and introspection.
Lack of desire for sexual experiences with another person.

 

 
The DSM-IV-TR, defines schizoid personality disorder as:

A. A pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four (or more) of the following:

DSM-IV-TR criteria
almost always chooses solitary activities
has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person
neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family
takes pleasure in few, if any, activities
lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
appears indifferent to the praise or criticism of others
shows emotional coldness, detachment, or flattened affectivity

B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of schizophrenia, a mood disorder with psychotic features, another psychotic disorder, or a pervasive developmental disorder and is not due to the direct physiological effects of a general medical condition.

Note: DSM-IV, which is an earlier version of DSM-IV-TR, does say that a person with Schizoid Personality Disorder may feel sensitive to the opinions of others and may even feel lonely but cannot do anything about the loneliness due to the disorder.

If you want to dig deeper than those mere definitions, you can start with Wikipedia, and you can stick with this site, for real life insights.

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