Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD)
Introduction
The schizotypal personality disorder is a type of psychiatric condition whereby the patient experiences a disturbance in thoughts, behavior. Also, the patient tends to harbor strange beliefs as well as fears. These unusual behaviors often affect their capability of forming and maintaining relationships.
Description of disorder
According to Loranger (1997), the diagnosis for schizotypal personality disorder is mainly through observation, cross-examination, and judgment of an experienced clinician. The clinician assessment takes various methods such as personality disorder interviews; this is whereby a clinician interviews with the patient to establish the extent of the disorder. Also, a close friend or relative of the patient can be interrogated to find out the personality of the patient before the disease as well as giving detailed information of how the patient behaves and interacts with people. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
In line with Pulay et al. (2009), the prevalence of schizotypal personality disorder ranges at 3.9%. The prevalence of schizotypal personality disorder is higher in men than in women.
However, the study by Pulay et al. (2009), observed that the SPD disorder was high among black people and especially among black women. Furthermore, there are lower rates of SPD among Asian men compared to Asian women and their white counterparts.
There are moderate-to-high remission rates between early childhood onset and later adulthood. Therefore, patients who have schizotypal personality disorder in their childhood, there are high chances that the child will not have the disorder in their adulthood. However, when the patient suffers from the disease in their adulthood, the remission rates are lower.
Schizotypal personality disorder is a psychiatric disorder where the patient experiences troubled thoughts and portray paranoid behavior.
What an episode looks like
When watching an episode from a patient suffering from SPD disorder, one notices that the patient harbors unusual thoughts as well as unrealistic perceptions of reality. The patient is uncomfortable with close relationships, and they exhibit constant paranoia.
Schizotypal personality disorder affects the cognitive function of the human brain. The disease impairs the ability of the patient to perceive reality as well as form and maintain relationships.
Treatment
In line with Sophie et al. (2018), there is no established medication for Schizotypal personality disorder. Anti-depressant drugs only prevent the patients from feeling depressed, but they are not a long term cure for the disorder.
Since SPD is a mental disorder, psychotherapy is the most effective form of therapy for patients suffering from the disorder. The specific goals of psychotherapy are to improve the speech habits of the patients as well as reduce paranoia and depression. When the patients have good speech habits, they can create and maintain relationships which in turn minimize depression and fear.
Conclusion
Schizotypal personality disorder should get serious consideration because it is on the increase. Since the symptoms are conspicuous, it is essential to take a person who seems to have the symptoms for a mental evaluation early enough. Although there is no traditional medicine for the disorder, the patient can receive therapy which reduces the impact of the disorder.
References
Kirchner, S. K., Roeh, A., Nolden, J., & Hasan, A. (2018). Diagnosis and treatment of schizotypal personality disorder: evidence from a systematic review. NPJ schizophrenia, 4(1), 20.
Loranger, A. W., Janca, A., & Sartorius, N. (Eds.). (1997). Assessment and diagnosis of personality disorders: The ICD-10 international personality disorder examination (IPDE). Cambridge University Press.
Pulay, A. J., Stinson, F. S., Dawson, D. A., Goldstein, R. B., Chou, S. P., Huang, B., … & Hasin, D. S. (2009). Prevalence, correlates, disability, and comorbidity of DSM-IV schizotypal personality disorder: results from the wave 2 national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions. Primary care companion to the Journal of clinical psychiatry, 11(2), 53.