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= Schizotypal Personality Disorder =

Neurological Factors in Schizotypal Personality Disorder
A person with Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD) may experience abnormalities in their temporal lobe structures. The amygdala and hippocampus of someone with SPD have a reduced volume and asymmetry in the parahippocampal region of the brain. A person with Schizotypal Personality Disorder often has a decrease of cortical gray matter in the cortical and subcortical areas of the brain. SPD is more likely to occur in men than in women. Someone is more likely to develop SPD if there is underlying diagnosis of schizophrenia or other Cluster A (odd/eccentric) Personality Disorders already. Out of the three Cluster A personality disorders, Schizotypal Personality Disorder is the most researched but there is still an abundance of information psychologists do not know yet about SPD.

Psychological Factors in Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD) can be broken into three dimensions, positive, negative, and disorganized. Positive represents adding something to a person's life. In this case, it would be the addition of hallucinations and delusions. Negative would represent taking emotional, physical, and social functions away or reducing it. Negative SPD is a genetically significant dimension associated with lower quality of life, poorer well-being, and higher perceived stress levels. The disorganized dimensions involve disorganized thoughts and bizarre behavior. To be diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder, you do not have to experience all three dimensions. Schizotypal Personality disorder falls on a continuum with high and low levels. High SPD has been associated with low quality of life, higher drug use, and poorer performances in tasks measuring cognitive control. Cognitive controls break into three parts, Shifting, updating, and inhibiting. Only Shifting and Updating have been shown to affect Schizotypal Personality Disorder reliably. Shifting is the ability to switch attention between tasks or mental states. Updating is being able to update or monitor the information that is held in working memory. The positive dimension is associated with poor performance in shifting cognitive abilities, while the negative dimension is associated with poorer performance in shifting and updating. People who suffer from Schizotypal Personality Disorder deal with cognitive control problems, especially related to the negative dimension. Through findings and discussion, the negative dimensions can be thought of as the primary feature of Schizotypal Personality Disorder.

Social Factors in Schizotypal Personality Disorder
The DSM-5 states that Schizotypal Personality Disorder is categorized by social-anxiety and poor interpersonal relationships along with bizarre behavior and problems with precepting experiences. Schizotypal traits can be expressed differently in different environments depending on their level of comfort. Children with Schizotypal Personality Disorder have been known to have difficulty in socializing activities with peers as well as problem-solving learning activities in the classroom. Children with SPD tend to be aware of their unique circumstances compared to their peers and will self-report that they are not like other children.