Schizotypy: what is it and what is its relation to psychosis?

This concept is more associated with personality than with schizophrenia and psychotic pathology.

Schizophrenia, schizophrenia, schizoid, schizotypal, schizoaffective, schizophreniform... surely the vast majority of psychologists and psychology students are familiar with these terms. But... What is schizotypy? Is it a new disorder, is it a personality disorder, and how is it different from the rest?

In this article we are going to delve into the interesting concept of schizotypy through a brief historical analysis of the term, and we will see how it is more of a personality trait than a mental disorder of the rather than a mental disorder of the psychotic sphere.

What is schizotypy?

Leaving aside the categorical view of psychosis (one has psychosis, or one does not have it), schizotypy is a psychological construct that purports to describe a continuum of personality traits and characteristics, together with experiences close to psychosis (one either has psychosis, or one does not).s and characteristics of the personality, together with experiences close to psychosis (specifically schizophrenia).

It should be clarified that this term is not currently used and is not is not included either in the DSM-5 or in the ICD-10, as these manuals already include it in the DSM-5 and ICD-10.It is not currently used and is not included in the DSM-5 or ICD-10, since these manuals already include personality disorders related to it, such as schizotypal personality disorder. Schizotypy is not a personality disorder and never has been, but a set of personality traits that form a continuum of degree.

Brief historical review of schizotypy

The categorical conception of psychosis is traditionally related to Emil Kraepelin (1921), who classified the various mental disorders from classified the different mental disorders from the medical model of psychosis.. This world-renowned German psychiatrist developed the first nosological classification of mental disorders, adding new categories such as manic-depressive psychosis and dementia praecox (today known as schizophrenia thanks to Educen Bleuler, 1924).

Until recently, the diagnostic systems that we psychologists have been using over the years maintained Kraepelin's categorical view, until the advent of the DSM-5, which, despite the criticisms of the DSM-5, has been used by psychologists over the years.which, despite the criticisms it has received, provides a more dimensional point of view.

Meehl (1962) distinguished in his studies schizotypy (personality organization that had the potential to decompensate) and schizophrenia (the complete psychotic syndrome). Rado's (1956) and Meehl's approach to schizotypal personality has been described as the clinical background of schizotypal personality disorder. the clinical antecedent of schizotypal personality disorder. as we know it today in the DSM-5, away from the nomenclature of schizotypy.

However, we owe the term schizotypy entirely to Gordon Claridge, who together with Eysenck, advocated the belief that there was no clear dividing line between insanity and "sanity", i.e., they advocated a conception closer to the dimensional than to the categorical. They believed that psychosis was not an extreme reflection of symptoms, but that many features of psychosis could be identified to varying degrees within the general population.

Claridge termed this idea schizotypyand suggested that it could be broken down into several factors, which we will discuss below.

Factors of schizotypy

Gordon Claridge devoted himself to the study of the concept of schizotypy by means of the analysis of bizarre or unusual experiences in the general population (without diagnosed psychotic disorders) and the (without diagnosed psychotic disorders) and the symptoms clustered in people with diagnosed schizophrenia (clinical population). In assessing the data carefully, Claridge suggested that the personality trait of schizotypy was much more complex than it first appeared, and devised the breakdown into four factors that we will see below:

• Unusual experiences: this is what we know today as delusions and hallucinations.. It is the disposition to live unusual and strange cognitive and perceptual experiences, such as magical beliefs, superstitions, and so on.
• Cognitive disorganization: the way of thinking and the thoughts become totally disorganized, with tangential ideas, incoherence in the speech, etcetera.
• Introverted anhedoniaClaridge defined it as introverted behavior, emotionally flat expressions, social isolation, decreased ability to feel pleasure, either in general or in the social and physical plane. It is what today corresponds to the criteria of negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
• Impulsive nonconformity: this is the presence of unstable and unpredictable behavior with respect to socially established rules and norms. Failure of behavior to conform to imposed social norms..

How does it relate to psychosis and mental illness?

Jackson (1997) proposed the concept of "benign schizotypy" by studying that certain experiences related to schizotypy, such as unusual experiences or cognitive disorganization, were related to having creativity and problem-solving abilities, which could havewhich could have adaptive value.

There are basically three approaches to understanding the relationship between schizotypy as a trait and the diagnosed psychotic illness (the quasi-dimensional, the dimensional and the fully dimensional), although they are not without controversy, since in studying the characteristic features of schizotypy it has been observed that it does not constitute a homogeneous and unified concept, so that the conclusions that can be drawn are subject to many possible explanations.

The three approaches are used, in one way or another, to reflect that schizotypy constitutes a cognitive and even a cognitive vulnerability. cognitive and even Biological vulnerability for the development of psychosis in the subject. in the subject. Thus, psychosis remains latent and would not express itself unless triggering events (stressors or substance use) occur. We are going to focus mainly on the full dimensional and dimensional approximation, as they form the latest version of Claridge's model.

Dimensional approach

It is strongly influenced by Hans Eysenck's personality theory. Diagnosable psychosis is considered to be is considered to be at the extreme limit of the gradual spectrum of schizotypyand that there is a continuum between people with low and normal levels of schizotypy and high levels of schizotypy.

There has been much support for this approach because high scores in schizotypy can fit within the diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, schizoid personality disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder.

Full dimensional approach

From this approach schizotypy is considered a personality dimension, similar to Eysenck's PEN (Neuroticism, Extraversion and Psychoticism) model. The dimension "schizotypy" is normally distributed across the population, i.e. each and every one of us could score and have some degree of schizotypy, and that would not mean that it would be pathological.

In addition, there are two graded continuums, one dealing with schizotypal personality disorder and one dealing with schizophrenic psychosis (in this case, schizophrenia is considered to be a process of collapse of the individual). Both are independent and gradual. Finally, it is stated that schizophrenic psychosis does not consist of a high or extreme schizotypy, but rather that other factors that make it pathological and qualitatively different must be present..