Frick, the title is still a question...but I think it's specific enough. Just gotta keep trying~
So, I was studying for my psychology final last night (I can't believe it's all over...and I won't be able to take another until next year ;_;). This was a class specifically on psychological disorders, and at the end we covered one that seemed a bit...off to me.
Schizoid Personality Disorder: One of the odd, eccentric personality disorders (Cluster A); characterized by a pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotional expression; these individuals are traditional loners; others see them as unavailable, aloof, or detached
-From my textbook
My professor went on to explain that these people don't dislike other human beings, they just have a below-normal level of interest in interacting with them. Characteristics include:
-Not desiring or enjoying social relationships,
-Mainly engaging in solitary activities
-Showing little interest in sexual activities with others
-Finding little pleasure in any activity
-Having no close friends
-Showing indifference to both praise and criticism
-Showing emotional coldness or detachment
...Truth be told, I'm probably most concerned about this because it's the first psychological disorder I've come across that genuinely sounds like me (the book says you should hit at least four of the above characteristics, and I hit exactly four). In a word...>_<
But in this class, we also learned to identify disorders in terms of the 4 D's: Distress, Deviance, Danger, and Dysfunction. These qualifications are generally what separate legitimate disorders from "quirks". And I can see the Deviance and possibly the Dysfunction in Schizoid, but the Distress and the Danger are markedly absent. Someone who acts like that is hardly a danger to others, and there isn't really any distress in their condition because...well, they're just not interested.
For example, if it were me who were diagnosed with this disorder, I could see the possible benefits of treatment-- I mean, it would be pretty cool to be normal. Imagine not having to deal with people walking on eggshells around you because they think you're shy/afraid of them, or listening to cracks like "you just can't keep a friend, can you?"
But...I mean, I'm pretty happy with my quality of life otherwise, so I kinda don't feel like it'd be worth the effort. ^^; But that's the whole reason I have this 'disorder' in the first place, and the circle goes round and round...
Even the textbook says Schizoid is a little iffy ('very little empirical research'), but obviously it must have some credence or they wouldn't have mentioned it. So why would it be classed as a disorder in the first place?