Cluster A Personality Disorders
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Paranoid personality disorder is characterized by traits such as:
- Suspects, without sufficient evidence, others of exploiting, harming, or deceiving them
- Preoccupation with loyalty and trustworthiness of friends or associates
- Reluctance to confide in others due to unjustified fears that the information will be used against them
- Reads hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into benign remarks or events
- Persistently bears grudges
- Perceives attack on their reputation that are not apparent to others and is quick to counterattack
- Recurrent suspicions about the fidelity of a spouse or partner
- PPD is not diagnosed when another disorder, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, more appropriately accounts for the symptoms.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Schizoid personality disorder is characterized by traits such as:
- Neither enjoying nor desiring close relationships, including those of a family
- Almost always choosing solitary activities
- Having little to no interest in sexual experiences with another person
- Taking pleasure in very few activities
- Lacking close friends or confidants
- Appearing indifferent to praise or criticism from others
- Emotional coldness or detachment or flattened affect
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Schizotypal personality disorder is characterized by traits such as:
- Ideas of reference
- Odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior (e.g. superstitions, belief in clairvoyance or telepathy)
- Unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions
- Odd thinking and speech (e.g. vague, overelaborate, metaphorical)
- Suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
- Inappropriate or constricted affect
- Behavior or appearance that is eccentric, odd, or peculiar
- Lack of close friends or confidants
- Excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and is due to paranoid or suspicious thoughts
How Are They Treated?
How is Paranoid Personality Disorder treated?
Psychotherapy: The primary treatment for this disorder is long-term psychotherapy.
How is Schizoid Personality Disorder treated?
Psychotherapy: The primary treatment for all personality disorders is individual therapy. Someone with SPD may also benefit from group therapy. However, it is important to note that someone with this personality disorder is unlikely to seek treatment.
How is Schizotypal Personality Disorder treated?
Psychotherapy: The primary treatment is long-term psychotherapy. It is important to note that people with STPD are unlikely to seek treatment. If they do seek treatment, it is more likely for related issues such as anxiety and depression rather than the personality disorder itself.