From the author: Counseling parents with children diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder is not an easy task. Children are brought to a psychologist of different ages, often almost adults, but not able to cope with difficulties on their own. Parents feel helpless. Most of them say that there have always been difficulties, but no one even thought that their cause was a personality disorder in the child. There is no statistical data that could answer the question of how many children have schizotypal personality disorder, such no statistics are kept. Meanwhile, the number of children with this disorder is increasing. These children seem to be behind special glass, through which you can only see from one side. Through this glass, children see their distorted world, but their world is not visible and incomprehensible to anyone, including their parents, who, due to their capabilities, try to demand from them to be like everyone else. Parents, as a rule, remain with the problem of raising a child with schizotypal personality disorder, alone. Until a certain age, the problem of personality disorder in children often remains beyond the understanding of not only parents, but also specialists. Parents turn to a psychiatrist extremely rarely, out of fear that the child will be registered and this will ruin his whole life. A child with schizotypal disorder is recognizable from an early age, but to determine this, one needs knowledge that the majority of those around the child do not have. Parents attribute the child's characteristic traits to complexities of character, spoiled behavior, and resemblance to one of their relatives, and in this they are largely right; unfortunately, this is all that parents should know about a child with schizotypal personality disorder. Few parents begin sound the alarm at an early age. Most parents at this age are concerned about the physical health of their children, their intellectual development, and schooling, but children with schizotypal disorder do not have problems with intelligence. They get sick just like all other children, but a high level of anxiety, mood swings, inability to cope with their emotions, and impaired communication function accompany the child’s development from an early age. Parents, of course, turn to psychologists, psychotherapists, and neurologists at different ages of the child, but, as a rule, they rarely find help, at least the kind they expect - “to help fix the child.” Children with personality disorders have differences in the traditional thinking and behavior that society considers ordinary or normal. Their characteristic behavior can lead to great trouble and can become a hindrance in many areas of life, including the social sphere of life. Children with severe personality disorder tend to have poor social skills and difficulty forming healthy relationships with others. Unlike children with anxiety disorder, who know they have the problem but cannot control their emotions, children those with personality disorders usually do not know that they have problems and do not feel the need to control anything. Parents are fundamentally unaware of this peculiarity and try to bring their children into conformity with the generally accepted norm. Thus, they only exacerbate the formation of special personality traits in their children. Because of the peculiarities of their behavior, people around the child often call them “eccentrics.” Their strange beliefs and judgments set them apart from other children, but parents do not immediately notice these features. Their inability to form close relationships and distortion of reality do not cause concern until the children grow up and their characteristics become obvious. Schizotypal personality disorder may seem like a mild form of schizophrenia, such children are often teased at school as “schizos”, but this disease is not confirmed , and the problem hangs in the air with a silent question - “what’s wrong with the child?” There are no laboratoryTests To Diagnose Personality Disorders, your pediatrician may use a variety of diagnostic tests to rule out physical illness as the cause of your symptoms. If the doctor does not find any physical cause, he may refer the person to a psychiatrist or psychologist. These specialists, too, cannot always establish this kind of disorder, especially when it comes to a child. It can be assumed, but it is unlikely to say with certainty, it is difficult to recognize schizotypal personality disorder in childhood and adolescence, but it is possible. The following list is a collection of possible behavior options and character traits of children who suffer from schizotypal personality disorder. Please note that this list is not intended for diagnosis, but this knowledge can help parents and psychologists, who are most often approached for help and explanations of what is happening to the child. List of criteria for assessing the behavior and personality traits of children with schizotypal disorder: Categoricality in statements - “always” and “never”, can often be heard from a child with schizotypal disorder, however, they rarely follow through on their words. Anger towards people, hypertrophied perception, touchiness. Avoidance - inability to leave relationships with other people as a defensive reaction to reduce the risk of rejection, responsibility, criticism or exposure. Catastrophizing - automatically the habit of assuming a "worst case scenario" of a catastrophic event and refusing to act, even on minor or moderate problems or issues. Chaos creation - the tendency to take risky actions, creating conditions for risk , destruction, disorder. Chronic promise breaking is a common trait among people who suffer from a personality disorder. "Round conversations" - reasoning that goes on endlessly, repeating the same patterns without resolution. Cognitive dissonance - most people experience cognitive dissonance, when they encounter information that contradicts their beliefs or values. Personality disorder sufferers often experience cognitive dissonance when they are confronted with evidence that their actions have hurt other people. Confirmation bias - the tendency to pay more attention to things that support their beliefs than to things that contradict them. Denial - belief or imagining that some painful or traumatic circumstances, events, or memory of them do not exist or did not occur. Dependency is inappropriate or chronic dependence on an adult, or another person, for one's health, decision-making, or personal and emotional well-being. Depression - people who suffer from a personality disorder often have symptoms of depression. Dissociation is a withdrawal from reality. Confusion is an unhealthy and overwhelming dependence on another person that comes from imagination or belief, and exists only in the context of this relationship. An impaired perception of one's rights is unreal, undeserved or improper expectation of favorable living conditions and a favorable regime that the people around him should create. Flight into fantasy - taking an imaginary life, happier, for reality. False accusations - unfounded or exaggerated criticism directed at another person. Favoritism is the habit of obtaining a preferential position for yourself both at home and in a peer group. Fear of loneliness is the irrational belief that one is in danger of being rejected, abandoned, or replaced by someone. Feeling of emptiness is an acute, chronic feeling that everyday life has little value or meaning. This sensation may cause an impulsive desire to experience strong physical sensations or dramatic experiences. Thesauration - the accumulation of events, conditions that negatively affect the quality of life, comfort, safety or hygiene. Emotional lability - mood swings often begin or intensify when emotional.