Halligeninseln
Deinonychus
Joined: Sep 23, 2011
Age: 59
Posts: 377
Location: Central Europe
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 Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 5:42 am Post subject: Has your ASD ended up making you schizoid? |
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I think I'm coming to the conclusion that my previously unrecognised ASD-related problems ended up making me schizoid. Just to give a few examples off the top of my head: I always tended (and tend) to lock myself away to focus in on my narrow obsessions, so that takes me away from other people, which is schizoid. I am really bad at small talk and group situations, so I have tended to avoid meeting new people or socialising, because I fail when I do these things, so I end up by myself, which is schizoid. I also find it difficult seeing the big picture and organising a life for myself, but just focus in on something restricted by myself, because that is what I feel comfortable with. So again, I just end up by myself, which is schizoid. I don't like spontaneity and change, so it would be no fun at all if people were to phone me up and invite me to do things. So I just end up staying by myself, which is schizoid. Etc etc etc. In most social situations it is too loud, too unfocussed, too spontaneous, too complicated, too unpredictable, too other-directed, too fast, too many people etc, so I just stay by myself, which is schizoid. The list could go on. So I think that having these ASD traits lead naturally to schizoid behaviour, or at least have done so in my case.
What about you? Do your ASD traits make you behave in a schizoid way? |
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wokndead
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jan 19, 2012
Age: 35
Posts: 142
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 7:10 am Post subject: |
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It sounds to me that all of these "schizoid" behaviors are really just typical Asperger's traits. Just more severe. Being by yourself, in itself, doesn't make you schizoid. But everything you listed are full-on aspie traits, which end up making many of us prefer our own company to others. I'm not trying to blatantly shoot down your conclusion, since you know yourself better than anyone. However, I'm speaking from experience. My wife is schizoid, and she's nothing like I am. Also, she hates being alone.
_________________
-- Wokndead --
AQ:38 -- Aspie score: 147/200 -- NT score: 55/200
"I remind myself of someone I almost met at a party I never went to."
"Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door." |
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lostonearth35
Phoenix
Joined: Jan 06, 2010
Age: 39
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Location: Canada
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 8:29 am Post subject: |
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"Schizoid" is a very nasty, outdated label to describe a schizophrenia sufferer or schizophrenia-like symptoms. I used to live in a home where nearly everyone else had schizophrenia and believe me, it turns a person's life into a living nightmare. I was also (wrongly) diagnosed with schizophrenia form disorder and lived with that label for years before being diagnosed with Asperger's. My behavior may somewhat resemble schizophrenia because I talk to myself a lot, especially when I'm alone, which is most of the time and there's no one to talk to and even if there was they probably wouldn't want to listen to me describe my latest experiences on YouTube or most recent discoveries on Wiki. I don't just talk to myself, either. I tell myself stories and jokes and even "share" information as if there was really another person listening. Maybe I'm just rehearsing for real-life socializing.  |
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wokndead
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jan 19, 2012
Age: 35
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 9:32 am Post subject: |
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Since you know a bit about schizophrenia, I guess I should clarify a bit. My wife doesn't have full-blown schizophrenia. What she has is schizoid personality disorder. So it's not quite as extreme as schizophrenia, but it can be pretty bad at times. Still nothing like AS, although the two are genetically related. Guess our kids are screwed. 
_________________
-- Wokndead --
AQ:38 -- Aspie score: 147/200 -- NT score: 55/200
"I remind myself of someone I almost met at a party I never went to."
"Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door." |
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Ellingtonia
Pileated woodpecker
Joined: Oct 10, 2011
Age: 21
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 10:37 am Post subject: |
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| I'm not overly familiar with schizoid personality disorder, but my understanding was that people with SPD dislike being around other people, it seems to be the defining symptom. If your wife hates being alone, in what way is she schizoid? I'm not trying to be confrontational or anything, just trying to understand the disorder better. |
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wokndead
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jan 19, 2012
Age: 35
Posts: 142
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 10:53 am Post subject: |
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I apologize, I meant to say "schizotypal," not "schizoid." There is a difference between these two. My wife can be very social, mostly when she's drinking. Otherwise (and this is the confusing part) she hates being alone, but she prefers that people leave her alone. She is really only comfortable with the select few people she is close to. That is, unless she's drinking. Then she's a social butterfly. She does have hallucinations and hears voices at times, usually when she's stressed. She deals with a lot of anxiety and depression, and went through a time when she was agoraphobic. Anyway, here's a little blurb about the disorder.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
_________________
-- Wokndead --
AQ:38 -- Aspie score: 147/200 -- NT score: 55/200
"I remind myself of someone I almost met at a party I never went to."
"Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door." |
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Halligeninseln
Deinonychus
Joined: Sep 23, 2011
Age: 59
Posts: 377
Location: Central Europe
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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As I understand it, schizoid people like being alone a lot and don't like engaging in activities with others or having friends. Maybe I was misusing the term, because there are supposed to be other features to it, too, apart from just being a loner. I suppose it's obvious that ASD often results in people ending up as loners, even if they don't want to at first. Schizoid, schizotypal and schizophrenia are three completely different things, especially schizoid, which seems best summed up by the word "detachment". I started this thread because I keep self-diagnosing as schizoid because I avoid social interaction.
(Today I was given a second AS diagnosis, because I had doubted the first, in October, after a woman I was in email contact with called it in question because the person doing the diagnosis wasn't as qualified as the person who did hers  . My therapist said "What good will it do you, because you'll only start doubting it again as soon as someone calls it into question? You need to move on and decide how to deal with it.")
Anyway, back to schizoid personality disorder, I still don't know if you can develop it as a result of ASD-related problems in childhood and youth. |
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nick007
old-skewl fan-boy
Joined: May 05, 2010
Age: 30
Posts: 9737
Location: was Louisiana but moved in with my girlfreind in Vermont
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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Yes. i was officially diagnosed with Schizoid Personality as my primary disorder when I was tested for Aspergers. I'm pretty sure I have Aspergers thou but most all the docs, psychs, & other "experts" I seen saw my Schizoid traits rite away & didn't see deep enough to notice my AS. My Schizoid personality developed gradually from lots of problems I had that were related to my AS & other issues; being bullied, misunderstanding others, others not understanding me, having problems getting along with others ect caused me to withdrawn inside myself wanting everyone & the world to leave me the hell alone. It also contributed to me getting depressed & kind of shutting down from everything around me
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For info about where I've been & what's up with me check this post~
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Halligeninseln
Deinonychus
Joined: Sep 23, 2011
Age: 59
Posts: 377
Location: Central Europe
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| nick007 wrote: | | Yes. i was officially diagnosed with Schizoid Personality as my primary disorder when I was tested for Aspergers. I'm pretty sure I have Aspergers thou but most all the docs, psychs, & other "experts" I seen saw my Schizoid traits rite away & didn't see deep enough to notice my AS. My Schizoid personality developed gradually from lots of problems I had that were related to my AS & other issues; being bullied, misunderstanding others, others not understanding me, having problems getting along with others ect caused me to withdrawn inside myself wanting everyone & the world to leave me the hell alone. It also contributed to me getting depressed & kind of shutting down from everything around me |
Yes. I keep feeling that something similar happened to me too. I seem to have kind of closed down over the years because I wasn't having any sort of social success, so I gave up trying to be outgoing and just focussed more and more on my interests. I have the opposite situatiion to you in that everybody thinks I have Aspergers but I'm not sure because I keep thinking it could be Schizoid personality disorder but nobody else seems to take that possibility seriously. |
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CrazyCatLord
Phoenix
Joined: Oct 25, 2011
Posts: 2177
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| Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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| wokndead wrote: | I apologize, I meant to say "schizotypal," not "schizoid." There is a difference between these two. My wife can be very social, mostly when she's drinking. Otherwise (and this is the confusing part) she hates being alone, but she prefers that people leave her alone. She is really only comfortable with the select few people she is close to. That is, unless she's drinking. Then she's a social butterfly. She does have hallucinations and hears voices at times, usually when she's stressed. She deals with a lot of anxiety and depression, and went through a time when she was agoraphobic. Anyway, here's a little blurb about the disorder.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder |
I think the boldened part also applies to most aspies. At least it describes myself. I hate being alone, but since I can't stand being around people, I prefer being alone over human company. Both is very hard to cope with and makes me utterly miserable, but loneliness is a little easier to tolerate. It's like being forced to choose between arsenic and cyanide. One doesn't really prefer one over the other, but if "neither" is simply not an option, one picks the one that hurts less. |
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Halligeninseln
Deinonychus
Joined: Sep 23, 2011
Age: 59
Posts: 377
Location: Central Europe
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| Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 11:51 am Post subject: |
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| CrazyCatLord wrote: | | wokndead wrote: | I apologize, I meant to say "schizotypal," not "schizoid." There is a difference between these two. My wife can be very social, mostly when she's drinking. Otherwise (and this is the confusing part) she hates being alone, but she prefers that people leave her alone. She is really only comfortable with the select few people she is close to. That is, unless she's drinking. Then she's a social butterfly. She does have hallucinations and hears voices at times, usually when she's stressed. She deals with a lot of anxiety and depression, and went through a time when she was agoraphobic. Anyway, here's a little blurb about the disorder.
Schizotypal Personality Disorder |
I think the boldened part also applies to most aspies. At least it describes myself. I hate being alone, but since I can't stand being around people, I prefer being alone over human company. Both is very hard to cope with and makes me utterly miserable, but loneliness is a little easier to tolerate. It's like being forced to choose between arsenic and cyanide. One doesn't really prefer one over the other, but if "neither" is simply not an option, one picks the one that hurts less. |
That sounds like a bad situation. Luckily I find that although being around people makes me miserable being by myself is usually pleasant, so I can avoid the miserableness by just being by myself. But I think it took me years to get to that point and when I was younger I was more like you because I always thought I was missing something by being alone but then felt miserable when I wasn't  . |
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redrobin62
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Joined: Apr 03, 2012
Age: 50
Posts: 3839
Location: Seattle, WA
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 2:38 pm Post subject: |
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| I guess when I think about schizoid and all the other "schizo"-related terms I automatically think "detached" "non-social" "paranoid" "in their own world" "nonsensical speech" "out of touch" "heavily medicated" "restless" "lost at sea". I guess some of those traits are also ASD-related. With your original posting of your traits I see something more akin to Avoidant Personality Disorder than schizoid and the reason I mention that is I'm not sure schizoid people actually make an attempt to assimilate themselves or are even aware of joining a group. An AvPD is aware of a group he'd like to join, or a person he'd like to meet, but just lack the bearing or nerve to get him from point A to point B. Either way, the medication and therapies for both disorders is probably the same (Amitryptline, Lithium, etc). Someone will come along and disagree with me. That's okay. I was just speaking as someone who does have AS and AvPD and identifies with your symptoms. |
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archraphael
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jul 29, 2011
Posts: 174
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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ASD gave me chronic psychosis
in fact i am starting to think, i was misdiagnosed with Asperger's, that I really have schizo-affective disease,, which represented AS "asperger's" in developmental delay/negative symptoms.... dormant until my teens->20's. |
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Halligeninseln
Deinonychus
Joined: Sep 23, 2011
Age: 59
Posts: 377
Location: Central Europe
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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| archraphael wrote: | ASD gave me chronic psychosis
in fact i am starting to think, i was misdiagnosed with Asperger's, that I really have schizo-affective disease,, which represented AS "asperger's" in developmental delay/negative symptoms.... dormant until my teens->20's. |
Can the two conditions maybe run concurrently? |
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archraphael
Snowy Owl
Joined: Jul 29, 2011
Posts: 174
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Halligeninseln wrote: | | archraphael wrote: | ASD gave me chronic psychosis
in fact i am starting to think, i was misdiagnosed with Asperger's, that I really have schizo-affective disease,, which represented AS "asperger's" in developmental delay/negative symptoms.... dormant until my teens->20's. |
Can the two conditions maybe run concurrently? |
probably. supposedly syd barrett had AS... and einstein, rumored to have AS, son was schizophrenic
also i know of some older-generation autistics who are more extraverted and less schizoid aka monotone voice aka older gen autistics have a more sing-song voice and get along better with their peers.
i think y2k has made a lot of autistics schizoid. the breakdown of society's connection to each other and norms has made everyone seem more distant and schizoid imo. and imo as result i believe mental illness and suicide literally is on the rise |
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