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How to Help a Friend With StPD (Schizotypal Personality Disorder)

cyclopsrose helped me write this guide on supporting someone with StPD–Schizotypal Personality Disorder. This illness doesn’t get enough representation, so thank you for all your help!

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1.     There’s this misconception that people with StPD don’t want to have friends. We do want to have friends and we do value friendship, but we have difficulty maintaining friendships because it’s exhausting for us. It takes a lot of energy for us to be social. When we’re with other people, we sometimes have a hard time relating to other people, and thus we may feel we don’t belong, or we don’t quite fit in. This may cause us to feel irritated, paranoid, or even in pain during social situations.

So if we start to drift away it most likely isn’t a reflection of you. Keep in touch with us. Just send us a text every once in a while reminding us that you still want to be our friend.

2.     On that note, because socializing is exhausting for people with StPD, sometimes we need time alone to “recharge,” which is similar to what people with social anxiety experience. Unfamiliar social situations with unfamiliar people can be especially distressing for us. While you may have the best intentions, encouraging us to hang out more “for our own good” may just cause us more anxiety.

3.     It’s hard for us to keep up in conversations. We have a hard time translating our thoughts into words that other people understand. You may notice that sometimes we seem to “shut down,” giving one-word responses or just using body language. Again, this doesn’t mean we’re bored, nor is it a reflection of you: talking is just hard for us, that’s all. Please try not to take it personally. If we’re still making an effort to maintain a friendship with you, odds are we really value you.

4.     Socializing is exhausting in part because we have to manage our anxiety stemming from our fear of being “odd” or “different.” We’re intensely afraid of being judged or labeled as such. Telling us that the way we think, dress, or act is “weird” doesn’t help us at all; this type of criticism is actually what gets to us most. Don’t tell us that we need to change, even in a joking matter.

5.     Much of StPD is distressing: the anxiety we feel maintaining friendships and opening up to people, the paranoia regarding how we think others perceive us, and the depression. But not everything about StPD, especially the part about our personality, needs to be changed or needs treatment. We like our individuality; how we think, feel, dress, act, and speak is unique! While we do need support to help us get through the depression, anxiety etc and we do seek treatment for these symptoms, we don’t need to change who we are. We’re not looking to be completely rid of our StPD.

Again, telling us that we’re “weird” or “different” just makes it hard for us to trust you. We are much more comfortable if we’re encouraged to express ourselves the way we want.

6.     Sometimes we have a hard time interpreting social cues. We’re always looking for signs that we don’t belong or that you think we’re weird. It really helps when you reassure us that you don’t hate us, even if it seems obvious to you that you care for us.

7.     Part of StPD involves a symptom called “magical thinking,” which is similar to what people with OCD or schizophrenia may experience. We’ll see ordinary things—such as character on TV looking into the camera—and feel it’s a sign meant for us—that TV character is directly communicating with us or using the TV to spy on us. We may be paranoid that someone is out to kill us, or that someone is trying to read our thoughts. Sometimes we’re aware that what we’re feeling is not based on reality, but sometimes we aren’t. These experiences, in the heat of the moment, feel extremely real to us. After the thoughts have passed, we usually can see that these “signs” weren’t signs at all, and we can even laugh it off sometimes. But magical thinking is a symptom of StPD, and has nothing to do with intelligence. If we tell you about one of our delusions, don’t laugh at us or tell us we’re “too intelligent” to believe these things. An easy way to help us without furthering the delusion is to say “Do you need space to calm down?”, and then you can take us away from the distressing situation and to a safe space instead.

8.     We really do NOT like being touched without permission. If you want to give us a hug, please ask!

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i have drawn many wörms

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Little schizophrenia/schizospec/psychosis things

- those weird shapes that come in different colours and you HAVE to watch them float through one side of the room to the other then disappear

- weird squiggly black lines that dance around in front of you and usually make everything around you blurry except for that black thing

- people’s voices echoing but the echo is very deep and demonic sounding so you can barely understand what people are saying

- not showering for so long because you thought you showered an hour ago but in reality you haven’t showered at all

- not eating for days on end because the food is obviously poisoned or you have ugly gustatory hallucinations from eating so food is not good

- your vision going completely blurry and black for a while and you literally cannot see properly enough to function so you’re like woah

- watching a horror movie or a movie with a monster so obviously that movie was a secret message that the person/monster is out to get you

- there’s ALWAYS someone or something going after you

- wanting to please the thing that’s after you so you don’t get hurt so you listen to the voices and do whatever they tell you because they know what will please your persecutor

- making yourself bleed because that proves you’re a real person

- making yourself bleed but this time you don’t know how, when, or why

- saying things out loud that were meant to be in your head

- you’re a psychic because you’re right about things in the future 38% of the time

- pretending to be speaking on the phone with someone when in reality you’re just talking to yourself/the voices

- not caring enough to distinguish what’s a hallucination or not because it’s too much work

- people thinking you’re acting drunk after an anxiety or panic attack/very bad seizure-like psychotic episode but in reality it’s just really bad psychosis

- saying something and people laughing but you have no idea what you said that was funny

- hallucinating pain in your body and then having hypochondriac type delusions that you’re going to die so you prepare for death

- believing anything anyone says even if it’s completely absurd or meant as sarcasm

- doing something and then forgetting you did the thing and doing it again and again until you realize you did it several times

- sleeping but not really sleeping because it’s like you get a good ten minutes of sleep before you wake up and take at least half an hour to sleep since auditory hallucinations continue on even throughout sleep

- hallucinating being cold so you’re wearing four layers or jackets, two layers or socks, very warm pj pants, mittens, and sitting right beside the heater turned to max

- that one hallucination that’s positive and encouraging but you can’t tell if it’s mocking you or being genuine

- all inanimate objects are alive so you have to be polite always

- telling people you’re not psychotic when they say you seem extremely ill but your insight is 0

- literally having to be taken care of like a small child: being reminded to eat, shower etc. basically people making sure you’re doing mundane basic human things

- having to be reminded you’re a human that needs to do basic human functions when in reality you feel as if you had the needs of inanimate objects which is nothing really

- having so much trouble walking and keeping your balance so people literally have to hold you while walking so you don’t fall over

- all of a sudden feeling like your body is floating in soft clouds or like you’re in a very warm bath and you can feel yourself losing any and all control of yourself

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Music is the best!

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SUFFER, AS I HAVE!!!

sequel: ★

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i was talking with friends about metroid and we somehow ended up on sa-x and dark samus making out. lesbian icons if im being honest.

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dark samus is pretty neat-o

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The Villains Teach Preschool

Bowser: It’s story-time kids! So I’m going to read you my eight-hundred thousand word long Coffee Shop AU of me and Peach!

Ganondorf: And that is why Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union is a model of the perfect society.

Ridley: WHO WANTS TO PLAY WITH FIRECRACKERS!

Wolf: Look either you punks take a nap or you take a six-foot deep dirt nap. Your choice.

Wario: *grabbing a kid by the collar* GIMME YOUR LUNCH MONEY!

King K Rool: No you may not have snacks, there are none. (Starts shoving whole handfuls of snack food into his mouth from a box labeled “snack time”)

Dark Samus: *No one moves. They are too terrified. She just sits in the corner staring.*

Dark Link: I have made you cookies. However! Half of them are unsweetened oatmeal raisin and the other half are chocolate chip. You may only take one cookie. Have fun.

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Heaven Will Be Mine now in App Store HERE (currently not on Android devices)

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hot pink poison

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Daisy Ridley for Glamour Magazine 2016

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If you're a mutual & you wanna stay in touch send me a dm

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Happy Tumblr Death Day

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have you guys ever seen a hummingbird in its nest