A Psychotherapy Oriented by Compassion and Metacognition for Schizoid Personality Disorder: A Two Cases Series

• Published in: Journal of contemporary psychotherapy Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 61 - 70
• Main Authors: Cheli, Simone, Chiarello, Francesca, Cavalletti, Veronica
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-03-2023
• Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Personality and Social Psychology; Psychiatry; Public Health; Compassion; Detachment; Negative symptoms; Schizoid personality disorder; Metacognition
• ISSN: 0022-0116; 1573-3564
• DOI: 10.1007/s10879-022-09566-3

The treatment of schizoid personality disorder (SZPD) is a poorly studied area of psychotherapy. Although the construct of a schizoid personality has been defined for the last century, no clinical guidelines or evidence-based practices have been developed specifically for the treatment of SZPD. The cases series presented in this paper aim to explore the effect of an integrative psychotherapy for patients diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder. Two therapies that showed good evidence in supporting people with recurrent symptoms and mechanisms related to schizoid personality were integrated: Metacognitive Reflection and Insight Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy. The former has been shown to be effective in treating schizophrenia spectrum disorders and psychosis and their associated negative symptoms, whereas the latter has been found to promote self-soothing and social safeness against a wide range of symptoms. This proposed integrative form of psychotherapy was tested by recruiting two patients diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder. The intervention showed reliable changes in symptomatology and remission from diagnosis. No adverse events were reported. Future research should confirm these findings regarding the feasibility of the proposed intervention.