Is schizoid a personality or a disorder?

Question

I went to see a psychologist for the first time and he thinks i have the personlaity disorder called schizoid? But is it really a disorder i am not hurting myself and I am not hurting orther people. What do you think?

Answer 1

You described it yourself. It is a disorder - a personality disorder, to be specific about what type of disorder it is.

Every person has a personality. Some people have a disorder related to that personality.

Many people with mental disorders do not hurt themselves or others.

Here's some links:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000920.htm

http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/schizoid.html

What I think is this: You have only seen this person once. Hold off on forming any conclusions about whether this person is correct or what some form of schizoid personality may mean until you have seen this (or another) doctor more and can get a solid understanding of what any diagnosis really is and means.

Best wishes.

Answer 2

First of all, visiting your emntal health professional was a good idea - they are the most qualified people to handle such situations. Strictly speaking, schizoid is labeled as a personality disorder - but is nothing as crippling as full blown schizophrenia. That being said, strictly speaking, any mental problem - be it depression, bipolar, schizoid... is only a problem if it is

1.) causing big problems in your own life (i.e. you have difficulty holding any job)
OR
2.) causing problems for others (i.e. your friends and family are being torn apart because of this).

If you being schizoid does not manifest itself in either of the above fashions, then it is still a disorder (in the strictest sense of hte word, you being diagnosed means that you're not within the "average" population), but it's not a problem! It's like having a cold but still being able to go to work - who really cares in the end if you're sniffling! You're still making money!

Answer 3

At:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/print/ency/article/000920.htm

they refer to it as a personality disorder.