[Etiological and therapeutic aspects of schizoid and schizotypal personality disorder]

Following the introduction to the history of the concepts of abnormal personality, with regard to the schizoid and schizotypal forms, we present their systematic assessment in the modern classification systems.Both, the schizoid and schizotypal forms, are usually considered as schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Biological and clinical data indicate relations to other axis-I disorders as well. However there are few systematic and strictly controlled studies on the psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatment of schizotypal and schizoid personality disorders. Basic theoretic assumptions concerning both treatment concepts - for personality disorders in general, and especially in schizoid and schizotypal personality disorder - are given. Finally the role of neuroleptics and antidepressants for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders is discussed. New possibilities may emerge from the use of the recently developed atypical drugs, but further research in randomised studies is needed. Current prospective studies on early detected schizophrenia-spectrum disorders will broaden our knowledge about prevention and therapy.