I am not dxed schizotypal but definitely have traits.
I was wondering how you felt about friends. Do you want them or are you not that interested in friends?
I am someone who occasionally needs company but doesn’t like anyone getting too close to me.
Most of the time though I am happy with my own company.
I have no friends. Indeed have only had a handful of friends in 60 years .
My friendships are further complicated because I’m as much schizoid as schizotypal.
From what I’ve experienced though, Stpd will still favour having a few close friends over lots of regular friends.
I feel that my friends are not really friends in the same way as normies would see them.
My ‘work-friends’ are entirely fake and they have never even met the real me. I feel anxious talking to them if I meet them in the street and really would prefer to avoid them socially. They think I am weird, but continue talking to me because they think it is polite.
I have ~5 regular friends who get to see my high-functioning side, and I am less anxious around them because we have real lived experiences to talk about. They would consider themselves to be normies, but most of them are on the fringes of mental illness themselves, or have suffered in the past. I would probably not meet them sober, unless it was to see a film or go to an event. I probably see them once or twice a year, and rarely speak to them. I enjoy meeting them in small doses, and I feel they are real friends who I care about. They know I am weird but they accept it.
I have 1 best friend who I can say anything to, but he’s a wannabe normie and not good with MI. We know each other very well and I trust him completely. We meet up every few months, to play board games mostly - we share a lot of interests in gaming. He refuses to accept that I am weird and says I am just lonely.
Me too; I have both no interest in friendships & high social discomfort and anxiety, when it rains it pours…
I’m diagnosed schizophrenic. I very much enjoy the idea of social situations, and go out a lot. But when I’m there in the moment, I realize how disconnected I am. Then I spend the rest of the time just wanting to make everyone cry blood. It’s a vicious cycle.
I am not at all proactive when it comes to developing friendships . When it comes to the need for company from time to time it’s very much with family.
My therapist says I should make some friends. It is hard when you’re my age, because everyone has their friends.
It won’t let me edit. I am diagnosed with SZ.