Psychotherapy High Wycombe Psychotherapy High Wycombe - Last updated 07 January 2026

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DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR:

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Individuals with this Cluster A Personality Disorder, like individuals with schizoid personalities have little capacity for close relationships but they are also eccentric in their behaviors, perceptions, and thinking.

Diagnostic criteria for 301.22 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:

(1) ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference)
(2) 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)
(3) unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions
(4) odd thinking and speech (e.g. vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped)
(5) suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
(6) inappropriate or constricted affect
(7) behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar
(8) lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
(9) excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self

B. Does not occur exclusively during the course of Schizophrenia, a Mood Disorder With Psychotic Features, another Psychotic Disorder, or a Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
Note: If criteria are met prior to the onset of Schizophrenia, add "Premorbid," e.g. "Schizotypal Personality Disorder (Premorbid)."

Based on the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition APA

The online Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists most of the major psychological disorders and illnesses and lists the criteria that must be fulfilled in order for a diagnosis to be made. This resource is not a substitute for proper professional psychiatric diagnosis.