Does social isolation create schizotypal?

It seems to me that social isolation can result in a lack of peer to peer social education. With the absence of such, it's left to people with SPD (or potential SPD) to create their own methods and find their own answers about the nature of things.

Like a remote tribe in the amazon, we are left to develop in parallel to the society around them: speaking own language, creating our own culture and customs, developing our own sciences and methods, and telling our own myths and legends.

In order to function with the outside world, we have to develop a keen sense of intuition rather than true understanding. The alienation of essentially entering a foreign society when we step out the door causes the dysfunction, because unlike the other cluster A personalities, schizotypals are social creatures, but don't understand how to adapt to normal conventions and often miss the mark when attempting to do so. Always having to translate and intuit our output and input leads to the strange way we have of being both very literal due to our learned responses, and very metaphorical due to our expressing our inner world in a way that others might be able to interpret.

The misunderstandings and judgements that come as a result are what enforce our isolation, further causing social withdrawal and compounding the problem. The thing is, our internal logic and mannerisms make sense, and are logical, practical, and effective, though sometimes inefficient. The problem is that we need other people to operate on at least the same level of intuitiveness that we have. We need others to meet us halfway, which most people do not because they never needed to before and probably never will need to again. It makes me wonder how many SPD's go into education, seemingly prodigies in their chosen fields, only to fail because they can't adapt to professional standards. For example, the computer code we wrote might work perfectly, but it's no good if the next guy it gets passed to can't understand or work with it.

I've found that I tend to understand, and be understood, better by other people operating on an intuitive level. People who don't speak my language at all and who I have to communicate with through gestures and body language. Other people with with mental disorders such as schizophrenia, who are operating from an alien point of reference but are used to intuitive communication to express themselves. Even with animals who speak a simple language of needs and desire are easier to connect and communicate with than "normal" people.

Errr... I think I'm going off on a tangent here, so back to the question at hand. How many people here with SPD have are socially deprived and "fringe" due to the things I mentioned above? And was it a case of the chicken or the egg for you?

Well... I've not been diagnosed as having SPD. And I have to admit much of what you wrote is beyond my poor ability to process. But reading it I was thinking about my own situation. Although I am married, I am otherwise pretty-much entirely reclusive & have been for quite a few years now. And I spend a lot of time alone. One thing I have experienced over the years is that the more time I have spent alone, the more of a tendency I have had to veer off the "common highway" so to speak... in other words to develop & indulge in things that would likely seem peculiar, perhaps even bizarre, to the average person. I think that day-to-day exposure to society in general tends to have a "molding" effect keeping us functioning more-or-less within the bounds of what society deems to be "normal" behavior. The more time we spend alone the more it is possible, perhaps even likely, we will stray off into our own little world.

I don’t have an answer. I’m sending hugs

Maybe that's why people who spend a lot of time alone are labeled as eccentric. I always start dressing rather bizarrely when I have been single (and isolated socially) for a long time but people seem to like it and comment. Presently I have a pair of snakeskin patterned Doc Martens I wear when I go out...and lots of young people (and some older, too) compliment me on them. And I am not young! Their purchase was the direct result of spending too much time online shopping! The other day the young guy who makes the sandwiches at Subway said, "I like your boots!" and as I was walking out he said, "No, make that...I love your boots!" I stopped, turned around, vogued a bit and smiled. I didn't say a word. I was taken by surprise.

I think the OP made some wonderful points. If I may make my own interpretation...society at large is too dense, shallow, and dumbed down to appreciate special, subtle, and often wildly talented individuals. In the make believe society as portrayed in Star Trek...there would be a place for empaths and other individuals who communicated on more subtle levels. But our present society is too crude and badly formed. That why I love Sherlock Holmes. He kind of makes fun of that fact...and in the BBC Sherlock he and his equally brilliant brother refer to most people as "goldfish."

We non-verbals (I tend to talk about quarter as much as the average person) need to assert ourselves subtly and make tiny waves. I do this with my clothes and jewelry. I am not so out there that I would stop people on the street...but I use fashion and person style as a form of expression.

I don't have SPD but I can relate to the Op so decided to comment. Hope that's okay.

I was diagnosed with autism many years ago and managed fine for the most part. Preferred being with my dog rather than at a party but I had friends and went to social events


After getting covid that seems to have left me with chronic fatigue and also inflammatory arthritis I have been almost completely isolated for 3 years.

Lost contact with friends and now have lot of paranoid thoughts.also being going through menopause which has triggered severe mood swings that convinced I have multiple personalities for a while especially when the brain fog was severe.


I love fantasy worlds always have and have always been something of a Maladaptive Daydreamer so got back into it and started thinking of these extreme emotions surfacing as personalities and them Tulpa's as not much else I could do that didn't leave me exhausted and trigger relapses of the ME and arthritis.


I got into Spiritual forums too after reading of someone who had a 'walk-in companion' who had been a past family member.


I honestly don't know whether I have Schizoptypal, I probably wouldn't have fit the diagnosis criteria years ago but I suspect I would now but some of that could be the Autism too (which was officially diagnosed) there's quite a bit of overlap in symptoms so I don't know how you'd know if someone had both?


I enjoy my fantasy world/scenario's and am perfectly aware of what the outside world believes and thinks. I don't share those thoughts with anyone in the real world but its great you can go online anonymously and join groups for Tulpa's and Walk-in spirits and find people with similar beliefs and Inner Worlds.

Better than being depressed and suicidal from always been in pain, exhausted and alone which I see in alot of groups for neurotypical people chronic conditions. They seem to be on so much medication too and still depressed...

Me? I definitely get an high from these fantasy worlds. Rather paradoxically they help keep me in touch with reality and when I need to interact I can do a damn good impression of NT!!!