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In psychology, schizotypy is a theoretical concept that posits a continuum of personality characteristics and experiences, ranging from normal dissociative, imaginative states to extreme states of mind related to psychosis, especially schizophrenia. The continuum of personality proposed in schizotypy is in contrast to a categorical view of psychosis, wherein psychosis is considered a particular (usually pathological) state of mind, which the person either has or does not have. Development of the concept The categorical view of psychosis is most associated with Emil Kraepelin, who created criteria for the medical diagnosis and classification of different forms of psychotic illness. Particularly, he made the distinction between dementia praecox (now called schizophrenia), manic depressive insanity and non-psychotic states. Modern diagnostic systems used in psychiatry (such as the DSM) maintain this categorical view. In contrast, psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler did not believe there was a clear separation between sanity and madness, believing instead that psychosis was simply an extreme expression of thoughts and behaviours that could be present to varying degrees throughout the population. The concept of psychosis as a spectrum was further developed by psychologists such as Hans Eysenck and Gordon Claridge, who sought to understand unusual variations in thought and behaviour in terms of personality theory. Eysenck conceptualised cognitive and behavioral variations as all together forming a single personality trait, psychoticism. Meehl et al. 1964 first coined the term 'schizotypy,' and through examination of unusual experiences in the general population and clustering of symptoms in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. The work of Claridge suggested that this personality trait was more complex than had been previously thought and could be broken down into four factors. Unusual experiences: The disposition to have unusual perceptual and other cognitive experiences, such as hallucinations, magical or superstitious belief and interpretation of events (see also delusions). This factor is also often referred to as "positive schizotypy" and "cognitive-perceptual" schizotypy Cognitive disorganization: A tendency for thoughts to become derailed, disorganised or tangential (see also formal thought disorder). This factor is also often referred to as "disorganized schizotypy" Introverted anhedonia: A tendency to introverted, emotionally flat and asocial behaviour, associated with a deficiency in the ability to feel pleasure from social and physical stimulation. This factor is also often referred to as "negative schizotypy" and "schizoidia" Impulsive nonconformity: The disposition to unstable mood and behaviour particularly with regard to rules and social conventions. The relationship between schizotypy, mental health and mental illness Although aiming to reflect some of the features present in diagnosable mental illness, schizotypy does not necessarily imply that someone who is more schizotypal than someone else is more ill. For example, certain aspects of schizotypy may be beneficial. Both the unusual experiences and cognitive disorganisation aspects have been linked to creativity and artistic achievement. Jackson proposed the concept of 'benign schizotypy' in relation to certain classes of religious experience, which he suggested might be regarded as a form of problem-solving and therefore of adaptive value. The link between positive schizotypy and certain facets of creativity is consistent with the notion of a "healthy schizotypy", which may account for the persistence of schizophrenia-related genes in the population despite their many dysfunctional aspects. The extent of schizotypy can be measured using certain diagnostic tests, such as the O-LIFE. However, the exact nature of the relationship between schizotypy and diagnosable psychotic illness is still controversial. One of the key concerns that researchers have had is that questionnaire-based measures of schizotypy, when analysed using factor analysis, do not suggest that schizotypy is a unified, homogeneous concept. The three main approaches have been labelled as 'quasi-dimensional', 'dimensional' and 'fully dimensional'. Each approach is sometimes used to imply that schizotypy reflects a cognitive or biological vulnerability to psychosis, although this may remain dormant and never express itself, unless triggered by appropriate environmental events or conditions (such as certain doses of drugs or high levels of stress). Quasi-dimensional approach The quasi-dimensional model may be traced back to Bleuler (the inventor of the term 'schizophrenia'), who commented on two types of continuity between normality and psychosis: that between the schizophrenic and his or her relatives, and that between the patient's premorbid and post-morbid personalities (i.e. their personality before and after the onset of overt psychosis). On the first score he commented: 'If one observes the relatives of our patients, one often finds in them peculiarities which are qualitatively identical with those of the patients themselves, so that the disease appears to be only a quantitative increase of the anomalies seen in the parents and siblings.' On the second point, Bleuler discusses in a number of places whether peculiarities displayed by the patient before admission to hospital should be regarded as premonitory symptoms of the disease or merely indications of a predisposition to develop it. Despite these observations of continuity Bleuler himself remained an advocate of the disease model of schizophrenia. To this end he invoked a concept of latent schizophrenia, writing: 'In [the latent] form, we can see in nuce [in a nutshell] all the symptoms and all the combinations of symptoms which are present in the manifest types of the disease.' Later advocates of the quasi-dimensional view of schizotypy are Rado and Meehl, according to both of whom schizotypal symptoms merely represent less explicitly expressed manifestations of the underlying disease process which is schizophrenia. Rado proposed the term 'schizotype' to describe the person whose genetic make-up gave him or her a lifelong predisposition to schizophrenia. The quasi-dimensional model is so called because the only dimension it postulates is that of gradations of severity or explicitness in relation to the symptoms of a disease process: namely schizophrenia. Dimensional approach The dimensional approach, influenced by personality theory, argues that full blown psychotic illness is just the most extreme end of the schizotypy spectrum and there is a natural continuum between people with low and high levels of schizotypy. This model is most closely associated with the work of Hans Eysenck, who regarded the person exhibiting the full-blown manifestations of psychosis as simply someone occupying the extreme upper end of his 'psychoticism' dimension. Support for the dimensional model comes from.... Discover the Sara Claridge popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sara Claridge books.