Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Schizoid Personality Disorder

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

  • 93 Accesses

Definition

Schizoid personality disorder is a personality disorder that is associated with social detachment, emotional aloofness, and significant clinical impairment. Diagnostic criteria include a lack of close relationships, the preference for solitary activities, little interest in sexual experiences with another person, little interest in other activities more broadly, a lack of close friends other than first-degree relatives, indifference to praise or criticism, emotional coldness, detachment, and flattened affect.

Introduction

Schizoid personality disorder (SZPD) is a mental disorder characterized by social detachment and affective flatness. SZPD is one of the most under-researched and poorly understood personality disorders within the DSM-5. Consequently, accurate prevalence estimates for SZPD are scarce, but they tend to range from 1% to 5% of the general population (American Psychiatric Association [APA] 2013). There has also been a significant amount of debate regarding the...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 3,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 5,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ahmed, A. O., Green, B. A., Buckley, P. F., & McFarland, M. E. (2012). Taxometric analyses of paranoid and schizoid personality disorders. Psychiatry Research, 196(1), 123–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2011.10.010.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1968). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., & Freeman, A. (1990). Cognitive therapy of personality disorders. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blashfield, R. K., Keeley, J. W., Flanagan, E. H., & Miles, S. R. (2014). The cycle of classification: DSM-I through DSM-5. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 10, 25–51. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032813-153639.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blom, J., & Colijn, S. (2012). Klinische variant van mentaliserenbevorderende therapie voor patiënten met cluster A-persoonlijkheidsstoornis. = An inpatient version of mentalisation-based treatment for patients with cluster A personality disorders. Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie, 54(4), 377–382.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick, P. K. (2014). Peer-professional first person account: Before psychosis – Schizoid personality from the inside. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 40(3), 483–486. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbt182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cramer, V., Torgersen, S., & Kringlen, E. (2006). Personality disorders and quality of life. A population study. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 47(3), 178–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2005.06.002.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ekstrøm, M., Mortensen, E. L., Sørensen, H. J., & Mednick, S. A. (2006). Premorbid personality in schizophrenia spectrum: A prospective study. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 60(5), 417–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/08039480600940029.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Esterberg, M. L., Goulding, S. M., & Walker, E. F. (2010). Cluster A personality disorders: Schizotypal, schizoid, and paranoid personality disorders in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32, 515–528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-010-9183-8.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hess, N. (2016). On making emotional contact with a schizoid patient. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 32(1), 53–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjp.12193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopwood, C. J., & Thomas, K. M. (2012). Paranoid and schizoid personality disorders. In T. A. Widiger (Ed.), Oxford handbook of personality disorders (pp. 582–602). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hummelen, B., Pedersen, G., Wilberg, T., & Karterud, S. (2015). Poor validity of the DSM-IV schizoid personality disorder construct as a diagnostic category. Journal of Personality Disorders, 29(3), 334–346. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2014_28_159.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kendler, K. S., Czajkowski, N., Tambs, K., Torgersen, S., Aggen, S. H., Neale, M. C., & Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. (2006). Dimensional representations of DSM-IV cluster A personality disorders in a population-based sample of Norwegian twins: A multivariate study. Psychological Medicine, 36(11), 1583–1591. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291706008609.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kosson, D. S., Blackburn, R., Byrnes, K. A., Park, S., Logan, C., & Donnelly, J. P. (2008). Assessing interpersonal aspects of schizoid personality disorder: Preliminary validation studies. Journal of Personality Assessment, 90(20), 185–196.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, S. (2015). Trace-objects: Discovering negative identification in the schizoid transference. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 51(3), 476–502. https://doi.org/10.1080/00107530.2015.1060405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayes, R., & Horowitz, A. V. (2005). DSM-III and the revolution in the classification of mental illness. Journal of the History of Behavioral Sciences, 41(3), 249–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McWilliams, N. (2011). Psychoanalytic diagnosis: Understanding personality structure in the clinical process (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Millon, T. (1981). Disorders of personality: DSM-III, Axis II. New York: Wiley-Interscience.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittal, V. A., Kalus, O., Bernstein, D. P., & Siever, L. J. (2007). Schizoid personality disorder. In W. O’Donohue, K. A. Fowler, & S. O. Lilienfeld (Eds.), Personality disorders: Toward the DSM-V. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Novović, Z., MiÅ¡ić-Pavkov, G., Smederevac, S., Drakić, D., & Lukić, T. (2013). The role of schizoid personality, peritraumatic dissociation and behavioral activation system in a case of parricide. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 18(1), 113–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2012.11.004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peralta, V., & Cuesta, M. J. (2011). Eugen Bleuler and the schizophrenias: 100 years after. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 37(6), 1118–1120. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbr126Th.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual Task Force. (2006). Psychodynamic diagnostic manual. Silver Spring: Alliance of Psychoanalytic Organizations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramklint, M., von Knorring, A. L., von Knorring, L., & Ekselius, L. (2003). Child and adolescent psychiatric disorder predicting adult personality disorder: A follow up study. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 57(1), 23–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/psc.57.1.23.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thylstrup, B., & Hesse, M. (2009). ‘I am not complaining’ – Ambivalence construct in schizoid personality disorder. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 63(2), 147–167.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Treibwasser, J., Chemerinski, E., Roussous, P., & Siever, L. J. (2012). Schizoid personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, 26(6), 919–926.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ullrich, S., Farrington, D. P., & Coid, J. W. (2007). Dimensions of DSM-IV personality disorders and life-success. Journal of Personality Disorders, 21(6), 657–663. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.2007.21.6.657.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Waugh, M. H., Hopwood, C. J., Krueger, R. F., Morey, L. C., Pincus, A. L., & Wright, A. C. (2017). Psychological assessment with the DSM–5 alternative model for personality disorders: Tradition and innovation. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 48(2), 79–89. https://doi.org/10.1037/pro0000071.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weissman, M. M. (1993). The epidemiology of personality disorders: A 1990 update. Journal of Personality Disorders, 7(1), 44–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winarick, D. J., & Bornstein, R. F. (2015). Toward resolution of a longstanding controversy in personality disorder diagnosis: Contrasting correlates of schizoid and avoidant traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 79, 25–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.01.026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolff, S., Townshend, R., McGuire, R. J., & Weeks, D. J. (1991). ‘Schizoid’ personality in childhood and adult life II: Adult adjustment and the continuity with schizotypal personality disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 620–629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Abby L. Mulay, Halle Thurnauer & Nicole M. Cain

Authors
  1. Abby L. Mulay
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Halle Thurnauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nicole M. Cain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abby L. Mulay .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA

    Kevin Meehan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Mulay, A.L., Thurnauer, H., Cain, N.M. (2020). Schizoid Personality Disorder. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_626

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation