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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffYour personality is the sum total of the ways you think, feel, behave and react to your environment. It derives from a combination of genetics and early life experience. When someone chronically feels or behaves in an inappropriate way, that person has a personality disorder.
In normal development, children progress through several stages of social awareness and learn to accurately interpret the cues and intentions of others. For people with schizotypal personalities this social cognition is impaired, leading to development of illogical beliefs, magical thinking and paranoid thoughts, such as a nagging suspicion that one is being harassed, persecuted or treated unfairly.
The exact reason or cause of this impairment is unknown. Some experts contend that childhood abuse, neglect or stress results in the brain dysfunction that gives rise to schizotypal symptoms. Both genetics and environmental circumstances appear to play a role in development of the disorder.
A family history — such as having a parent who has schizophrenia or schizotypal personality disorder — increases your chances of developing the condition. A number of environmental factors also may contribute, such as a neglectful or abusive childhood home.
- Skodol AE. Longitudinal course and outcome of personality disorders. Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 2008;31(3):495-503, viii.
- Skodol AE, et al. Positive childhood experiences: Resilience and recovery from personality disorder in early adulthood. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2007;68(7):1102-1108.
- Pfohl B. Personality disorders. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Aug. 12, 2008.
- Schizotypal Personality Disorder. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association Publishing; 2000.
- Personality disorders. Merck Manuals Online Medical Library. http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec07/ch105/ch105a.html. Accessed Aug. 1, 2008.
- Hall-Flavin D (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Aug. 18, 2008.
