The Lack of the Online Presence, and Why...

As I have mentioned earlier, there aren't many people with schizotypal personality disorder who either openly identify themselves as such or talk about it online. This is pretty surprising, since the incidence of SPD in the general population is roughly 2-3%, meaning that there is one schizotypal person per 33-to-50 people. Why is it this way, when it is so common? Why do other less common disorders, such as autism and gender dysphoria, get talked about more often and have more people identify themselves with it?

There really is no one clear answer. Part of it may be that schizotypal personality disorder has always had a negative stigma attached to it (since it is generally associated with some amount of psychosis), and as such less people would admit to having it. Another thing about schizotypals is that they are more often than not paranoid, so as such they would be less likely to reveal personal information about themselves that could be used against them.

Another thing that I have personally seen is that schizotypals typically do not finish what they start. This is actually not an uncommon thing among people who have some amount of psychosis; they may begin with their project or interests with burning passion and after a couple of days or weeks later the flame smolders, and then they go on to something else, likely to repeat the same unproductive cycle again. I know for a fact that I am certainly not the first one to start a blog on SPD, and I have seen countless blogs that began with the same goal in mind and then just completely stop after a month or two later. Rarely does the delusion or pervasive interest stay constant enough to maintain a fixed, loud, and continuous presence online.

A very simple explanation may be that SPD has simply never been the flavor of the week; very few people go out of their way to label themselves with the disorder. In contrast, autism has been hugely popular among various online patrons and subcultures for over a decade, and you often see these people label themselves with other disorders or statuses, such as asexuality, PTSD, fibromyalgia, transgendered or agendered, or dissociative identity disorder. It is kind of strange how the ones that truly come off as being crazy label themselves as being anything but crazy.

A Beginning, One of Many

Hello everyone. This is an online journal. The purpose of this journal is to provide an outlet of sorts for my personal opinions regarding Schizotypal Personality Disorder as well as other similar disorders. One would probably ask as to why I would do this; to be frank, it is because that I have noticed a real shortage of blogs and communities that center around SPD and Schizophrenia in general, even though both disorders are just as common if not more common than disorders such as Asperger's Syndrome (which has an overwhelming online presence).

It must be noted that the information contained herein is mostly my informal opinions; I will rarely refer to studies or provide citations, mostly because I don't claim to state the absolute truth, and as such it is unnecessary. I will try update this journal often enough, but you know how it can be. I honestly don't know how long I will continue writing.

So long for now.