Schizotypal Personality Disorder vs. True Psychosis

I'll be seeing my t next thursday, so I'll ask her this question then...she has told me that I either have bipolar I or schizoaffective. But I'm starting to think I might just have bipolar II with schizotypal personality disorder.

My psychotic symptoms are fairly mild. I researched schizotypal personality disorder, and apparently the pseudo-psychotic symptoms can progress to full psychosis, they just can't stay there very long. So it is a quantitative difference between StPD and Sz, not a qualitative one.

Do any of you know the actual difference between these two disorders? I feel like I'm right on the borderline between severe schizotypal personality disorder and mild psychosis.

I'd like to know the difference myself. Good question.

I don't think they actually get hallucinations....it's more like magical thinking closer to delusions that define their psychosis. They can have illusions but that's is where one stimulus turns into something else rather than having something happen in isolation. So hearing the tea kettle may sound like a baby crying vs hearing a baby crying in the absence of any sound...

I'm not 100% though because a lot of docs are flexible in their definitions and I haven't seen the dsm v passage on that one yet.

Is it closer to delusional disorder than it is to sz?

From what understand it can get into delusions but it's more commonly like magical/new age stuff. Thinking you have psychic abilities or that others do...believing in crystals for healing....the stuff that's pretty benign and probably shouldn't be classified as a disorder in the first place...people who are anti-vaccine probably fit into this category too.

Here is the PC page for this.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder Symptoms | Psych Central

I would like to know the answer to that too. I am currently diagnosed Schizotypal Personality Disorder as well as Major Depression with Psychotic Features. My new pdoc feels that it's actually schizoaffective depressive type. We've only spent 30 minutes together so far, so he wants more time to evaluate before firming a diagnosis.

My argument is that it's schizoaffective if the psychosis is as prominent as the mood disorder (depression or bipolar). If the mood disorder is more prevalent and controlling it controls the psychosis, then you can classify it as depression with psychosis or bipolar. But that's just me and how I see it.

My previous pdoc said you can have psychosis with schizotypal, but we never really got into it. The one I saw before that seemed desperate to diagnose me with a personality disorder and this was the only one that fit. (I go to a teaching hospital and have to deal with changing residents under supervision of the experienced docs). I got diagnosed schizotypal because of some beliefs I have, like being constantly monitored by both white and black aliens since I was an infant.

Would love for you to follow up on this thread and let us know what the professional says. All I know is that there's a schizophrenia spectrum and schizotypal is the mild side, schizoaffective in the middle and then full schizophrenia. At least that's what I've read.

Thanks for posting this, there needs to be more understanding about it.

What is magical thinking?

Now there is no option for me to change the page I'm on for this thread. Why has it become so buggy for me?!

Things like being psychic....telepathy, healing through various non medical means....that kind of thing...it's not completely unaccepted by society but it's not considered completely normal either....in contrast full delusions seem to be made up by the individual and pretty unique...ie there are leprechauns among us who grow spirit plants which are for certain individuals and provide them with a source of power as long as they live....if you get an uneven number of coins as change they must be thrown into a well or equivalent to be neutralized so you don't have bad luck...

I sometimes try to predict the future by asking the universe for signs. For example, if I cross the street before the count-down begins, then the person I have feelings for likes me back. I don't think it's a delusion, though, because I know it is strange and I don't take these signs to be infallible.

I use to be into the new age stuff. Hell I use to consider myself Wiccan. Thought magik was real, believed there is more than one gods/goddesses, and believed in quite a few other things. Never really thought it was that much different than Christianity.

This is why it's totally dependent on your doc...mine (old one)does not consider this stuff to be any more unreasonable than religion but he also thinks it's garbage and a scam... he just doesn't like religion all that much in general.

I would say the difference is being raised in the culture vs adopting it yourself later on. If your mom was wiccan and you became wiccan due to that then it's for sure culturally relevant but take someone like me who was atheist of 36 years and then adopted a belief in spirits/shamanism. I know one other person who was into shamanism and she doesn't even believe it anymore....now she's into the pleadians.....beings from space or another dimension who are here to help us ascend. She also hears voices but believes herself to be psychic but she's totally normal other than that....she totally holds down a normal job but once cancelled a vacation with me because she believed someone's prediction of a tsunami hitting the Oregon coast. I'm guessing if she ever went to a shrink she would be schizotypal...although I'm not sure since she does hear voices.

But I think in general if you're already psychotic it's assumed your beliefs will be more magical so you don't need the schizotypal....anything schizo will do...

Still this is just my understanding of it...I obviously have no training so I too would like to hear when someone asks a pro...

Me too, Erti. I was Wiccan for many years.

Is it really that different from Christians and their beliefs?

I don't think it relies specifically on the religion, as much as the degree of the religious belief. I don't really find religion a good basis of judgement for delusional thoughts anyways though.

I'm a "Schizotypal" (and I honestly don't know what part of my thoughts are 'odd beliefs' because my thoughts makes perfect sense to me, but I diverse...). Anyways, I am a Christian, but I think I have pretty concrete thinking. However there are days where I seem to start to link everything to God (like instead of a prayer of thanks for my food, i'll pray for my arms to eat my food, and then that starts a spiral of thanks) and that's when I have to take a step back and decide where i'm at on that delusional line. I get into a battle with my thoughts of "Yay, i'm becoming a devout Christian" vs. "Would I sound obsessed/delusional to someone else right now because i'm linking everything to God?"

I have a family member who believes that God married her in a dream and she is the called one. To some Christians, this may seem like an awesome revelation while to me, that seems like magical thinking but like SometimesPsychotic, I'm sure she has other diagnosable symptoms of her own that would factor in so I'm not sure she'd necessarily be diagnosed w St.

I can't handle my own magical thinking so it turns to psychosis

What makes schizotypal PD different from the prodromal state? Are residual psychotic symptoms considered to be schizotypal?

Apparently ideas of reference are really common in this PD. Do these include a visual disturbance? Does the object that is communicating with you become alive?

I'm surprised people are getting diagnosed with this or a psychotic disorder because they possess different beliefs.