A pervasive pattern of social and interpersonal deficits marked by acute discomfort with, and reduced capacity for, close relationships as well as by cognitive or perceptual distortions and eccentricities of behavior, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:
ideas of reference (excluding delusions of reference)
odd beliefs or magical thinking that influences behavior and is inconsistent with subcultural norms (e.g., superstitiousness, belief in clairvoyance, telepathy, or "sixth sense"; in children and adolescents, bizarre fantasies or preoccupations)
unusual perceptual experiences, including bodily illusions
odd thinking and speech (e.g., vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, overelaborate, or stereotyped)
suspiciousness or paranoid ideation
inappropriate or constricted affect
behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric, or peculiar
lack of close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives
excessive social anxiety that does not diminish with familiarity and tends to be associated with paranoid fears rather than negative judgments about self
Criteria summarized from: American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fourth edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
