Schizoids in Heaven?

[Echoes_of_Me]

Essentially a Schizoid is someone who never had or lost the ability to connect with people emotionally or intimately. Incapable of communicating such things with people. Incapable of forming real relationships with people. Some can appear to do so, others don’t.
You’ll probably just need to read this or just skim it… There is a nice chart near the bottom that should be looked at to understand where I’m coming from.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid

Could it also be that the same barrier that prevents them from reaching other humans could also separate them from God?

How can someone so withdrawn from people, incapable of entering into communion with them, be able to be a part of the church?

Some psychologists say"One reason schizoid people are pathologized is because they are comparatively rare. People in majorities tend to assume that their own psychology is normative and to equate difference with inferiority". Therefore “[t]he so-called schizoid personality disorder is one of the more blatant examples of the APA’s pathologizing of normal human differences.”

Is this really a normal human experience, if rare?

 

[Kurisu35712]

Essentially a Schizoid is someone who never had or lost the ability to connect with people emotionally or intimately. Incapable of communicating such things with people. Incapable of forming real relationships with people. Some can appear to do so, others don’t.
You’ll probably just need to read this or just skim it… There is a nice chart near the bottom that should be looked at to understand where I’m coming from.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid

Could it also be that the same barrier that prevents them from reaching other humans could also separate them from God?

I’m pretty sure this kind of topic is addressed in the Catechism, though I couldn’t find the specific article. It involves reduced culpability in the case of mortal sin due to various factors, one being psychological state, if I’m not mistaken. Essentially, my thinking is that if a person is afflicted with a schizoid disorder to that severe of a degree, God understands their condition, and would also not hold them to the same spiritual, emotional, mental, etc. standards of a person whose physiology does not hinder their ability to process emotions.

How can someone so withdrawn from people, incapable of entering into communion with them, be able to be a part of the church?

It would surely be extremely difficult for them, but that doesn’t remove our own responsibility to try to bring them into the Church if possible. Granted, these disorders can interfere with one’s perception of reality to such a degree that spiritually entering the Church could be mentally or physiologically impossible for them, but our place isn’t to judge their destination when they die, but to love them as we would any other human, even if they are unable to reciprocate that.

Some psychologists say"One reason schizoid people are pathologized is because they are comparatively rare. People in majorities tend to assume that their own psychology is normative and to equate difference with inferiority". Therefore “[t]he so-called schizoid personality disorder is one of the more blatant examples of the APA’s pathologizing of normal human differences.”

Is this really a normal human experience, if rare?

It is not “normal” as far as fully functioning psychological capabilities are concerned. In this case, severe schizoid disorder is a pathology, because of the way it interferes with otherwise healthy functioning. Diabetes is a pathology because it is the result of a malfunctioning pancreas, and requires some form of treatment to achieve healthy bodily function. Likewise, schizoid personality disorder, like other psychological conditions, interferes with the person’s ability to live in a healthy state of existence. It hinders their perceptions or interactions with reality. It isn’t a normal (read unhindered) human experience. Schizoid people are not inferior by any means. They are still people and should be treated as such. Their psychology just deprives them of some aspects of human experience.

 

[Kurisu35712]

After reading more of the Wikipedia article and thinking more about the topic, I feel like I should add some clarification to what I was trying to say.

In a way, I would liken it to blindness. Someone without the ability to see is obviously lacking an otherwise common aspect of human experience, namely the ability to perceive visual stimuli. They aren’t any less of a person due to their inability to see however. They are simply unable to see.

Schizoid personality disorder is NOT the same thing as being an introvert, being imaginative, or simply not feeling inclined towards social interaction. The reason schizoid personality disorder is pathologized is because it interferes with a person’s functioning. A person has to be diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder to be considered schizoid. It is a disorder. The quote seems to imply that schizoid personality disorder is a myth, or simply a more extreme view of a certain type of personality, for example an introverted person who prefers spending their time reading alone than partying, for the sake of diagnosing a person with something. In good psychological practice, no one would be diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder if they did not have an actual condition. Due to the relative subjectivity of psychology compared to more concrete medical care, it’s certainly possible that people have been misdiagnosed, and are simply different from the majority. I would imagine that in most cases, such a diagnosis would only be given if the person’s psychological state actively interfered with their overall health somehow.

 

[mdgspencer]

I presume this is a psychological disorder.
When such a person enters heaven, this disorder will no longer exist.