CLUSTER A:

The cluster of “odd” personality disorders includes:

• Paranoid personality disorder
• Schizoid personality disorder
• Schizotypal personality disorder

People with these disorders display behaviors similar to, but not as extensive as, schizophrenia

• Behaviors include extreme suspiciousness, social withdrawal, and peculiar ways of thinking and perceiving things
• Such behaviors leave the person isolated
• Some clinicians believe that these disorders are actually related to schizophrenia, and thus call them “schizophrenia-spectrum disorders”

Clinicians have learned much about the symptoms of odd personality disorders, but little of their causes or how to treat them.  In fact, people with these disorders rarely seek treatment.

References:
Bernstein, D.A. & Nash, P.W. (2008). Essentials of psychology (4th ed.) Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Comer, R.J. (2013). Abnormal Psychology (8th ed).  Worth Publishers
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, (DSM-5) American Psychiatric Publishing, 2013
Feldman, R. (2013). Essentials of understanding psychology (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Friedman, H.S. & Schustack, M.W. (2012), Personality: classic theories and modern research (5th ed). Boston: Pearson Allyn & Bacon.
McGraw-Hill.McGraw Hill Higher Education (2013), The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc.
Ryckman, R. M. (2013). Theories of personality (10th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Sue,Sue, and Sue (2014).  Understanding Abnormal Behavior (10th Ed), Cengage Learning