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Schizo: prefix for schizoid, schizotypal, and schizophrenic

Discussion in 'Physical & Sexual Health' started by Tightrope, Jan 14, 2014.

  1. Tightrope

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    Schizoid and schizotypal are personality disorders (PD), per the literature. Schizophrenia is a serious condition.

    Why is this prefix common to all three? Is schizo related to the word schism? The first two seem to be close to each other in terms of their attributes or laundry list. The latter could develop from the first two, but rarely does.

    The other thing is that even the lesser two typically feature comorbidity with other diagnoses, which seem fairly consistent in some of their features. It's amazing how many PDs there are out there, on 4 axes!
     
  2. LD579

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    From an online site, describing the root... "[New Latin, from Greek skhizo-, from skhizein, to split; see skei- in Indo-European roots." Does that help, maybe?

    Quite a few words can seem to be related in a sense but not really be... in another sense. Palate, pallet, and palette are good examples of that, as described here.
     
  3. Tightrope

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    Thanks, Luthan. Yes, split is implied. However, differentiating between the 3 conditions is not easily done based on reading.
     
  4. Mogget

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    Why do you want to know? If you've been diagnosed with one (or more) of these conditions, I'd recommend talking to your diagnoser, not us.
     
  5. Foxface

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    Well first off I hate that term. I don't refer to my clients as schizo.

    Now with that said there is quite a bit of difference between legitimate schizophrenia and the two personality disorders.

    Schizotypal often presents as a person who is remarkably uncomfortable with relationships and has perceptual distortions and eccentricities

    Schizoid presents with restricted affect and and a personal detachment from relationships

    Now schizophrenia (changed in DSM V) is characterized by moderate to severe hallucination, delusions, incoherency, and disorganization of their executive functions (speech and so forth)

    It isn't to say that the two PD's cannot cause further issues but generally the PD's cause restricted affect, lack of desire for relationships and eccentric or odd behavior whereas schizophrenia works against reality testing as a whole as opposed to odd behaviors

    If you have such concerns I would recommend a visit to a professional.

    Foxface
     
  6. Tightrope

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    I began the thread that way because only that part of the word is common to all three. I would certainly never refer to someone as "schizo" either.

    Thanks for the clarification. The two PDs seem like gradations of each other. Also, I wonder what the actual prevalence of properly diagnosed schizophrenia is in this country.
     
  7. Mogget

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    Like other mental illnessses, properly managed schizophrenia can be invisible. One of my most put-together and on-top-of-it friends has paranoid schizophrenia.