Who else in your family tree has SPD?

Hi everyone!

I have been working with a cousin of mine, who also suffers from SPD, to identify by symptoms other family members with the disorder. So far we have traced it back to everyone from my mom's side of the family, and most of the offspring.

Has anyone else found the genetic thread associated with their issues? It was pretty easy, actually.

SPD is being removed from the DSM V, is it not?

As someone with several schizoid personality disorder traits, I wouldn't say that I "suffer" from it. I am fine with how I am, and I imagine that most people with SPD would feel the same way. As for it running in the family, it doesn't in mine. However, I had always assumed that SPD symptoms are usually a result of environmental factors, not biological.

Personally, finding out if others in my family "suffer" from SPD would hold no interest for me. Seems like it would be easy to identify if your family members are loners by choice, and then just move on. How is it that significant?

Unlike you, SPD has sucked the joy out of much of my life. I guess it is a matter of degree in the severity of the problem.

Lucky you that others in your family aren't eaten up with it. In my family, the full spectrum is presented, from mild to awful.

I'm going to proceed with my task, in the hope it helps everyone afflicted.

You're ahead of me on this point. I've googled and checked into Wikipedia and can't find information showing it is being removed. There are lots of changes going on with the book, that is for sure.

If you would provide a link to the info to which you are referring, I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks in advance,
Terry

Here are two sources that discussed the proposed changes on personality disorders:

http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevision...on.aspx?rid=14
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...lity-disorders

Hope this helps.

I am a tad confused - are you a loner by choice? Or do you feel more that you can't socialize, feel joy, etc, but that you WANT to? My experience has been that most people with SPD are fine with the way they are, and don't seek help for it. I have never heard of someone describing SPD as "awful"...you must be part of the unfortunate minority.

SPD has wrecked many of our interpersonal relationships, made it difficult if not impossible for some of us to hold jobs, etc.. For those who don't know the symptoms:

http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sx30.htm
Neither desires nor enjoys close relationships, including being part of a family
Almost always chooses solitary activities
Has little, if any, interest in having sexual experiences with another person
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

I'm sorry to hear this. I apologize if I am prying too much, but I truly am curious. How can having SPD affect one's ability to hold down a job? None of these symptoms suggest to me that a job would be difficult to keep, unless a) the job requires frequent socializing, or b) shows coldness/detachment to the extreme

Still though, I am able to be friendly with others, despite my symptoms. I guess there are varying degrees of severity, then? Also, aren't there jobs out there that are more solitary, such as working in a library?

You're not Schizoid.

Well, that's refreshing.

Being nice, what meets those symptoms but isn't schizoid?

A Schizoid would never think that there is anything wrong with the way they are, let alone feel that it causes 'the joy to be sucked out of their lives'. In terms of it wrecking your interpersonal relationships, well, why would you care? SPD all comes down to having a lack of interest in relationships of any kind.

Hi Melissa,

You're not prying too much. Feel free to PM me if you wish.

I wish could go back in time and pass along some of the feedback and observations I've gotten here; sadly the siblings I would have passed the info along to are deceased. Life was too joyless and they "checked out".

I didn't know what was wrong with us until recently. Then a psychologist with the VA started pinning down the symptoms and tracing them back through the family.

I've requested the MMPI test, but it isn't given at my local hospital. Some believe the test is revealing, some think it's "junk science". I would like to take the thing for my own 2 cents.

One person posted that they don't think I'm schizoid at all. I'm not going to argue, as I don't think anyone has gotten to the root of what did such a number on my family. Schizoid seems like the closest fit at this point. Further therapy will probably reveal the other ingredients in the soup that makes up my psyche.

The bottom line is that I don't want another suicide in my family; I don't want to see any more of my relatives living painful lonely lives, including me.

For that I will dig, take flak, and go to shrinks until the day I fall over from old age -- if that's what it takes to get the facts.

Terri

Personally, from what you've revealed here, it sounds like you're more depressed than Schizoid. Perhaps your so-called 'loner' traits are a result of this depression. You'll find that whilst individuals with SPD are perfectly content, they can and do (at times) develop depression, for varying other reasons, usually because their SPD was a result of trauma or abuse in the first place.

In answer to your original question, I've not yet managed to find anyone in my family tree with SPD. Depression/Bipolar disorder, however, is very common on my mother's side.

I have to agree with this 100%. Sometimes other mental illnesses, like depression, can have symptoms that SEEM a lot like SPD, but it couldn't be farther from the actual truth. This withdrawing from others, not receiving joy from things you used to, are very common in depression as well, and other mental illnesses, I'm sure.

As Shanzy mentioned, being concerned and depressed about losing interpersonal relationships just doesn't fit with SPD. If you truly had it, you wouldn't care about not having these relationships.

If you do indeed have depression (which sounds likely), this is actually good news for you. You can take steps to combat these symptoms, which are very treatable. Therapy, medications, or both can help immensely. The fact that you are looking so much into your symptoms and seeking help is another sign that you don't have SPD, by the way. Most people with this personality disorder don't consider it an issue, and therefore don't seek help for it.

Thanks so much for the insights. I plan on taking a printout of these pages with me to my upcoming appointment. I'm being evaluated for anti-depressants. I will have my T look at your comments.

I really do appreciate your feedback.

Terri

You're most welcome.

Well, I'm back from my T and have good news!

She looked over your postings and said that cognitive behavior therapy and antidepressiants would be the way to go. So, now I have "graduated" from the Military Sexual Trauma specialist, upstairs to a team of pyschiatrists. My T also gave the names of two books on CBT, which I have ordererd from the public library.

This may be a real turning point for me.

Wish me luck!

Terri

Thanks for updating us, Terri. I wish you the best of luck in your recovery!

I have used cognitive thought therapy to get past a lot of negative thinking in my head just to get by my daily dealings with people. there are many positive aspects of not having much emotion. But I do still have much difficulty dealing with people and there drama.
to be honest, being schizoid does not equal a need or desire to be alone. Isolation is just a symptom of schizoid. Relationships are just emotionally complicated to me. Hell I can't even decide on what to eat when I'm hungry cause I have no preference for anything. the decision to eat something is total based on convenience for that task at that time.
Eating is just a task, something I have to do sometimes. till the next day, then repeat.

As for family. I think everybody everywhere has issues.