Ab Ovo - The Psychology Podcast

Personality disorders - Custer A (paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal)

In this episode, I talk about Cluster A personality disorders, which include paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder.

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Duration:: 29m
Broadcast on:: 21 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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No purchase necessary VGW group would be prohibited by law 18 plus terms and conditions apply Hello guys, thanks for joining me in this episode and today's episode is gonna be the first from three serious episodes about personality disorders Today I'm gonna talk about cluster a so let's start Okay, so as I said This episode will be split into three parts because Disgusting all the personality disorders at once would take more than two hours So I will divide the episode into three segments with each part dedicated to a different cluster of personality disorder this cluster This episode will be dedicated to cluster a so the first one Now each person has their own unique personality Which is a blend of characteristics or traits that shapes how we understand the world how we behave and how we relate to others We can be for example optimistic or pessimistic some people are extroverted While others are introverted some individuals thrive in the spotlight while others prefer to stay in the shadows And we are all different and the majority of personality traits even though they can provide are completely normal and functional and many personality traits are flexible for example an introverted person Suggests or let's imagine the professor They may He or she may generally prefer solitude However, when giving a presentation at a conference or a speech they might speak to an audience without issue Although this situation might be more stressful for them than for an extroverted person They can adapt to the situation and manage their behavior accordingly when people have less adaptive personality traits and Cannot adjust their behavior to fit different situations. It often leads to a lack of flexibility and development of unhealthy coping mechanism For example, they might cope with stress by turning to alcohol or substance abuse Instead of seeking support from others or for example engaging in physical activity They may struggle with controlling their anger Which can result in conflict with friends bosses or teachers others might find it difficult to trust and form connections with people among other issues and personality traits are likely a combination of genetic factors and environmental influences and this means that while the environment alone cannot cause a personality disorder individuals needs to have a genetic predisposition for such trait to manifest in a given environment now the personality disorder To briefly explain it is a mental health condition characterized by and during patterns of thinking and Interacting with others that lead to significant difficulties in daily life For example in the visuals with personality disorders may struggle with maintaining relationships friendships Or they have troubles Keeping their jobs They often have difficulty understanding and managing their emotions and typically Exhibiting low tolerance for distress They can present Impulsive behaviors, which can further complicate their ability to relate to others and on one hand They may seek to build and maintain relationships on the other hand their behaviors may drive people away and over time Usually it becomes challenging for partners to stay in a relationship with someone who is inflexible and unadaptive because personality disorders are characterized by being inflexible and Unadaptive and this is very characteristic to personality disorders that behaviors and thinking patterns are repetitive Regardless the situation and they are very very unadaptive Diagnosing a personality disorder is extremely challenging because even the most Unadapted traits can feel natural to the individual. They are part of their ingrained thinking patterns behaviors and interpretation and When something is so deeply embedded in a person's identity, it can be difficult to recognize it as a problem or To see that my behavior, I am not able to see that my behavior is problematic I'm not able to see that my thinking pattern is maladaptive because this is mine This is a hundred percent mine, and I do not have any alternative and typically personality disorders are diagnosed when a patient seeks help for another issue or comorbidity and often It is a family member who identifies a problem such as noticing that for example their son behaves differently from his peers or That their sister has been married five times in seven years. So maybe There's something wrong with The way there's something wrong with how she managed her relationships and in these cases the therapeutic process may be initiated not by the patient themselves but by someone close to them who perceives the need for intervention and personality disorders are classified into three clusters are cluster a cluster b and cluster c However, it's important to note that the boundaries between these clusters are not rigid I mean people often exhibit traits from multiple personality disorders Though one type may be predominant and when a person displays maladaptive behaviors characteristic of more than one personality disorder without a clear dominant pattern The diagnosis may be unspecified personality disorder and there are eight distinct personality disorders grouped into these three clusters and cluster a Which I'm gonna describe in this episode This cluster is characterized by consistently dysfunctional thinking and behavior patterns often marked by suspicion paranoia or disinterest in others and This cluster includes three personality disorders, which are paranoid personality schizoid personality and schizotypal personality paranoid personality disorder is characterized by persistent distrust and suspicion of others and These patients often believe that others are trying to harm or exploit them even without evidence to support these beliefs and usually Even if you tell explicitly You tell them that their beliefs are not based on any evidence They will not verify them. They will very likely include you in the group of people that want to harm them This is usually the reason because of which forming and maintaining relationships are not possible because this is This is really really challenging really difficult to build a relationship with person who Who keeps on? suspected you are trying to harm them and The second that's even more important. This person is not really interested in forming any relationship and These patients are very unwilling to share personal information about them because they believe that this information will be used against them They often interpret the neutral events or neutral messages as hidden meanings and Some kind of hidden remarks, which are threats to them they also tend to hold a long lasting grudges and unwillingness to forgive perceived insults even if those were not real and objectively present If this patient has a relationship They often display jealousy and controlling behavior due to fears of infidelity and betrayal because not all patients reject relationships because Symptoms can be more or less severe. So there are patients who who try to maintain the relationship. However, in relationships, they usually Fear of infidelity and And those would be partners who are constantly looking for evidence that someone has an affair and All neutral messages from colleagues or even from a bank advisor Will be interpreted as an evidence of cheating So this can also be you can imagine for example the neighbor who is some Who's like a pain in the ass for everybody around because they keep calling the police or calling the building administrator informing that someone is trying to poison them Someone's trying to set their apartment on fire Or someone's making too much noise and so on and so on and depending on the intensity of the symptoms Living with or living around such person can be very abusive and tiring and this disorder Typically begins in early adulthood and can severely impair individual's ability to function effectively The second personality disorder in this cluster is schizoid personality disorder and it is characterized by pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a very limited range of emotional expression and Individuals with this disorder are often perceived as aloof and emotionally cold They tend to prefer solitary activities and usually show little interest in social interactions including Those with the closest family members and people with schizoid personality disorders Often state with themselves Favouring activities like writing or or for example software development That do not require social communication They have a limited ability to experience or express emotions and typically appear detached and you know, so this might be people who are When you look at them They given a impression they still have had Somewhere else they were they were remote they space off and so on They rarely empathize with others And they are not concerned with others opinions whether positive or negative so they seldom recognize feelings of affection or love and Do not really seek out romantic relationships and these individuals Generally do not enjoy activities that most people find pleasurable Including sexual activities, so there they are not interested in them at all while a preference for solitude or solitary activities alone does not indicate a disorder if These traits significantly imperative individual's ability to function in social or occupational settings It may be an indication to seek professional help because If this is just the way of Living that person prefers it is okay if it's not hindering them from getting job and so on But if this is if this disorder cause causes Problems in everyday life. This may be a reason to seek professional help and The example of a patient with such personality can be John. I'm changing the name of course John is a 32-year-old guy working as a software developer He lives alone Usually He wakes up early in the morning and after waking up eating breakfast he engaged in the in the code that occupies his workday because he's working as a Backhand developer, so he's He's he's basically doing a lot of coding His job is a remote position, so He doesn't have to go to office He works from home Without daily meetings either on-site or online and this suits him perfectly John you spans his days in isolation and After work he usually engages in video games social activities like Team sports or going out for dinner with friends are not attractive to him at all and he usually declined invitations to family barbecues or going out with colleagues In the conversation he rarely shares personal feelings he doesn't really care about approval or validation of other people and He's never been in a romantic relationship, and I remind you he's a 32-year-old guy He never had a romantic relationship and has no desire to be in such at all and The idea of dating someone seems quite foreign to him His interaction with the outside world are minimal Although he lives a pretty regular life, so he goes to the local store or he attends a necessary appointment At work if they are really necessary however these meetings are rather Interruptions of his daily activities than a source of pleasure or a chance to exchange opinion or thoughts and For some people his life might seem sad and lonely but John claims this is the life he prefers and he doesn't require help and This is okay if this pattern of thinking or behavior is not related to distress or Is not a source of suffering there is no need for therapy if he preferred to change it Then it would be the reason to seek professional help but if he doesn't require change it's not a reason to conduct therapy and Because of his name schizoid personality disorder is often confused with schizotypal personality disorder the latter is characterized by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentric behavior and families of these patients. I mean patients with schizotypal personality disorder are Usually alarmed because they think the patient has schizophrenia due to the expression of Old beliefs or even magical thinking sometimes such as superstition believing clairvoyance telepathy or this patient Patients sometimes claim of having a sick sense and things like that and these patients They can experience bodily illusions or other sensory distortions like electric impulses under their skin Or unusual heat sensations not caused by any external events They often speak in a very metaphorical over-elaborate Over-elaborate away or Stereotype way and making this is making their speech difficult to understand and the meaning of their words hard to discern So for example at such patients might say This is a quote from patient work is just another dance in the ground cosmic ballet Each step choreographed by the stars you have to understand the office isn't just a place It's a vortex of potential and kinetic energies interwinding So you see that you hear this is a kind of weird way of expressing these persons thoughts and Throughout the sentence, you're just losing the context. You're not able to identify what this person is talking about and Similarly to patients with paranoid personality Patients with schizotypal personality traits have a tendency to be suspicious and paranoid and often interpreting neutral events as Threatening they can also present unusual mannerism dress or grooming. So they might just feel peculiar or strange and These patients rarely have close friends They might have but they usually do not have Many close relationships. They also have limited interaction with other than relatives due to this Comfort with close relationships. It is just the source of distress to them They often present social anxiety Besides schizotypal personality disorder. You can also diagnose social anxiety in these people and social anxiety Are you described in the previous episode so you can come back? To listen about it and this disorder. I mean schizotypal personality disorder is often diagnosed in early adulthood and Due to the eccentric and all the behavior and appearance. It's often related to social isolation Social rejection Leading to depression and even greater anxiety in these people So the schizotypal personality disorder might be to some extent similar in its appearance to schizophrenia But in the case of personality disorder Patients remain in good connection. They have good grasp of reality They are able to communicate normally with their family members and with their friends if they have They have them and severity of their hallucinations and sensitive illusions is usually lower as compared to schizophrenia and Patients with schizophrenia, they gradually lose control or they lose connection with reality So that here's the difference and the example of the person The patient with schizotypal personality disorder Can be 20 a year old girl. Let's call her Sarah So, sorry is 28. She's working as a writer. She's a freelancer And from a young age she preferred Solitary activities. She loved reading books about the supernatural forces and superheroes And she was collecting peculiar objects that other people found odd like strings, lines, pieces of paper that someone threw away and Now she's living alone and her apartment is Laughter with crystals and amulets because Sarah believes she has a six sounds That allowed her to communicate with spirits and predict future events through her dreams But she doesn't consider herself psychic. She just has this gift and that's it She's not even thinking about making money on this She starts her day with a series of rituals aimed at harnessing and protecting her perceived mystical abilities So she must perform these rituals to avoid These abilities getting stolen by someone Sarah's appearance might seem odd to people because she dresses in mismatched clothes And she wears Unique accessories like dozens of amulets and stones Believing the word of negative energies She avoids certain colors like red green and pink Because these colors bring bad luck She sometimes Says that Sometimes say that the universe is whispering secrets or to her through the wind She avoids social interactions If they are not absolutely necessary Because as she claims she feels out of place in gatherings and Suspect that others talk about her behind her back and this suspicion leads To her to isolate herself But she is not completely alone Because she has two close friends or whom she trusts and they don't criticize her Style of clothing and they don't criticize her behavior. They're not judging her. So she she trusts them and She feels fine Being around them Sarah's attended therapy, but she has troubles trusting the therapist because She thinks that therapist even though the therapist is not judging her explicitly the therapist is Thinking something about her and this something is the most likely something negative so she often skipped sessions and The therapeutic process was very hectic and fitful and finally Sarah decided to end this therapy and This is cluster a Personality disorders. So as you can hear they might seem old the these people might seem a bit weird For a regular person But they are they are characterized by usually by solitude they might seem lonely Sometimes but they are not dangerous at all and Depending on the severity of personality disorders because The symptoms can fluctuate. They might be sometimes intense. Sometimes they might be less intense So they fluctuate but these people usually are characterized by distrust by By eccentric behaviors they usually Express some kind of suspicion of others. So this is very difficult for them to maintain relationship with friends or partner But again as I said, they are not dangerous. There are just different from a regular person And that's it. That's all about cluster a personality. So that was paranoid personality disorder schizoid personality disorder and schizotypal personality disorder and in the next episode, I'm gonna Explain and describe cluster be of personality disorders And I hope you enjoyed this episode Thank you for listening and of course you can follow me on social media you can follow the podcast on many Podcasting platforms which are described in the episode description so you can click on them Have a nice day evening and week and until next time bye-bye You It is Ryan C. 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