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One way to tell psychopathy and schizoid personality disorder apart is to look for evidence of fear.

Psychopaths feel less fear than normal because their amygdala is about 18 percent smaller than average.

People with schizoid PD feel more interpersonal fear than normal, which is why they often isolate themselves.

Some people assume that psychopaths and people with schizoid personality disorder must be similar because they both are emotionally hard to read. Making the distinction even more difficult, the media often prints sensationalized articles about antisocial loners who turn out to be serial killers. This leads some uninformed people to assume psychopaths and people described as schizoid must be connected or similar. However, if you compare the average psychopath with the average person with schizoid personality disorder (SPD) and look at their actual levels of fear, it is easy to tell them apart.

Note: I am using the terms psychopath and schizoid and SPD as shorthand terms for people who qualify for a full diagnosis of primary psychopathy or schizoid personality disorder. In this post, I am speaking only about psychopathy, not sociopathy or antisocial behavior disorder.

Some Brief Definitions

Psychopaths: While more research is needed, many experts believe that psychopaths are born with a smaller-than-normal amygdala and other brain abnormalities. They appear to be temperamentally predisposed to many of the following characteristics (Patrick, 2019):

Less emotional than normal

Low on desire for attachment

High on the need for stimulation

Restless and easily bored

Unconcerned about breaking rules or laws

Manipulative and deceitful

Schizoids: They may have inherited some traits that predisposed them to develop SPD if mistreated, but they were not born with it and would not have developed it unless they experienced........

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