Teen Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Characterized by major depressive disorder and dependent features and a passive overall attitude. Insipid schizotypal personality disorder is often exhibited with apathy, nonbeing, and sluggishness. Insipid schizotypal teens are often entirely indifferent. If they do lash out, then it is usually in a form of an existential crisis.

Characterized by avoidant, passive-aggressive features and more of an active approach to life overall. A timorous schizotypal personality disorder is often exhibited through an exaggeration of the minute.

What might seem insignificant or unimportant becomes a detail with hidden, obscure, or esoteric meaning, and they cling to supernatural explanations for random coincidences.

They are prone to believing in superstitions and may turn towards fantasies and rituals to protect themselves. They are still apathetic towards others and distance themselves from social interaction.

Teens with a family history of schizotypal personality disorders or schizophrenia spectrum disorders are more likely to develop these symptoms.

Personalities are formed through childhood experiences, and if certain beliefs or behaviors persist all throughout puberty, they may continue to persist in early adulthood. A teen with a schizotypal personality may have developed it to cope with something in their childhood.

Trauma is more likely to do emotional and psychological damage than any other emotional pain. Traumatic events are classified as traumatic based on how an individual responds, rather than the severity of the event. Some people are traumatized by an event while others cope healthily. Trauma may be identified by hazy or incomplete details, a lack of memory or temporary amnesia, or an unwillingness to bring up the past.

Short-term medication through antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs can help teens cope with severe negative thinking and persistent fears. Antipsychotic drugs may also be used as mood stabilizers. There is no medication available to directly treat the symptoms of people with schizotypal personality disorder, but other medication when properly prescribed can aid therapy.

Talk therapy or psychotherapy involves helping a teen identify what makes their behavior dangerous to them or others and find ways to cope with the causes of their behavior in a healthier manner.

One-on-one therapy with a mental health professional often involves the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy or dialectical behavioral therapy to help teens break down and understand their thinking and address it accordingly.

Group therapy or family therapy helps teens better explore their mental health conditions around others and can also help their family members better understand what they’re going through.

People with schizotypal personality disorder are on the same “spectrum” as schizophrenia, meaning it shares certain characteristics and symptoms. However, a schizotypal personality disorder is a milder illness with milder psychotic symptoms, and is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, whereas schizophrenia is much more severe.

No more so than others. Schizotypal personality disorder does not make teens more prone to violence, but it does make them prone to distancing themselves from others.

People with mental health conditions involving schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder may feel threatened by others and will put up walls to avoid social contact, from behaving apathetically or inappropriately to simply being extremely eccentric in both beliefs and behavior. They may believe themselves to be clairvoyant or telepathic but will not seek out fights or become violent more than other teens would.