Schizotypal Personality Disorder Symptoms

Under the DSM approach, the formal diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder rests on these symptoms, which can be evaluated by psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Also see the separate section on personality disorders as classified in the ICD.

Symptoms of Schizotypal Personality Disorder

The following specific diagnostic criteria are reproduced verbatim (except for codings and page references) from the DSM-IV, the immediate predessor of the current DSM-IV TR (where ‘IV TR’ indicates fourth edition, text revision).

Diagnostic Criteria for Schizotypal Personality Disorder

A. A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

• ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference)
• odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is
• inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or “sixth sense”; in children and adolescents, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations)
• unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions
• odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped)
• suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
• inappropriate or constricted affect
• behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar
• lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
• excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self

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B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia, a Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features, another Psychotic Disorder, or a Pervasive Developmental Disorder.

C. The disturbance is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition.

Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of Schizophrenia, add “Premorbid,” e.g., “Schizotypal Personality Disorder (Premorbid).”

Associated features

• Depressed Mood
• Odd/Eccentric/Suspicious Personality