[Squirrel1983]

Are Schizoid PD and Paranoid PD related? I have looked at the diagnositic criteria for both and appear to meet both based on a self evaluation. My psychiatrist originally diagnosed me with Asperger's, but I did not have symptoms as a child (they appeared in my late teens to adulthood)...so I am starting to question that diagnosis. A pseudo-friend who was a psychology major mentioned once that she thought I had a peronality disorder, so I started looking into them and appear to meet the criteria. I plan to ask my doctor about it at my next visit. I'm just curious if it is possible to have both schizoid and paranoid together? Or if they are related at all?

[Umbral_Seraph]

You could have both, though it's a stretch. They're not related to my knowledge. Schizoid is where you don't have any interest with social situations; you like spending time by yourself, so you don't engage. Paranoid is where you are suspicious of people and things, so time you spend alone is because of that suspicion and not because you want to; you can still want to socialize.

[FLtchr310]

I just saw my psychiatrist yesterday about my personality/mood issues. He said it is possible to have comorbidity (more than one disorder). The two that you mention differ, but you can have both.

[lrig_tsol]

Squirrel, your own traits sound rather similar to my own. By any chance, did you have a, like.. really rough time through high school in terms of social acceptance? I wasn't nearly as messed up as I am now before I started going to public school, and your symptoms starting later on in life seems to fit with these circumstances.

In the jr. high, I developed some kind of social anxiety disorder as well as paranoid tendencies from constant ridicule and bullying. Basically, I started to think that everyone who talked to me was trying to make fun of me, even if they weren't. (But they always were... so.....) As a freshman in high school I was sexually harrassed so much (by some really creepy jerk and his friends who never got in trouble for it despite a few teachers knowing, but was arrested later that year for breaking into someone's house... Teachers:), that I reached a point in my life where I absolutely loathed men, boys, and the male species in general. Except maybe small children. I also developed what can only be described as a mild form of post traumatic stress disorder. I had nightmares about all kinds of crap that happened at school, and sometimes I still do. Now that I'm out of that horrible place, I prefer to spend time alone and not socialize because I have learned that social situations lead to really painful crap. I guess that makes me kind of like a lab rat avoiding a certain behavior that has always led to an electric shock in the past. But that's not all. I also like spending time by myself. Because when I'm alone, no one can annoy me! That's not to say I don't get lonely, but being alone to me is like cheese to a lab rat or something.

Basically, I have schizoid and paranoid tendencies as well. The two seem to mesh together like peanut butter and jelly if you ask me.