BMJ  2007;334:108 (20 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39057.662373.80

Editorials

Renaming schizophrenia

Diagnosis and treatment are more important than semantics

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Recent reports in the media have called for schizophrenia to be "abolished as a concept" because it is scientifically meaningless.¹ This is not the first time that the validity of this diagnostic entity has been challenged, and it will not be the last until the cause of the disorder and its precise pathophysiology are known.

The current system of psychiatric diagnosis cannot describe definitive disease entities because of our inability to demonstrate "natural" boundaries between disorders. However, as Kendell and Jablensky point out, "thoughtful clinicians have long been aware that diagnostic categories are simply concepts, justified only by whether they provide a useful framework for organising and explaining the complexity of clinical experience in order to derive inferences about outcome and to guide decisions about treatment."² In this context, the charge that schizophrenia does not define a specific illness is clearly unwarranted. Although the validity of the diagnosis remains to . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY 10032, USA

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Related Article

Schizophrenia can and should be renamed

David G Kingdon, Yoshihiro Kinoshita, Farooq Naeem, Maged Swelam, Lars Hansen, Selveraj Vincent, and Shanaya Rathod
BMJ 2007 334: 221-222. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Kingdon, D. G, Kinoshita, Y., Naeem, F., Swelam, M., Hansen, L., Vincent, S., Rathod, S. (2007). Schizophrenia can and should be renamed. BMJ 334: 221-222 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Stigma and psychiatry

sobia haqqi
bmj.com, 22 Jan 2007 [Full text]

What’s wrong with the term “Schizophrenia”?

Niraj Ahuja, et al.
bmj.com, 23 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Schizophrenia can and should be renamed

David G Kingdon, et al.
bmj.com, 23 Jan 2007 [Full text]

De-stigmatising Schizophrenia

James Paul Pandarakalam
bmj.com, 23 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Renaming Schizophrenia; stigma and semantics

Daniel V Riordan, et al.
bmj.com, 23 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Change is required; but name or attitude?

Arnob Chakraborti, et al.
bmj.com, 23 Jan 2007 [Full text]

This is related to stigma

Vivek Furtado
bmj.com, 25 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Renaming schizophrenia: open up the debate

Robert H Chaplin
bmj.com, 28 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Schizophrenia cannot be justified as brain pathology

D B Double
bmj.com, 29 Jan 2007 [Full text]

Renaming schizophrenia:the need for evidence

Graham Thornicroft, et al.
bmj.com, 2 Feb 2007 [Full text]

Bleuler's Disease ? Re: Renaming schizophrenia:the need for evidence

Adrian Blaj
bmj.com, 7 Feb 2007 [Full text]

The schizophrenia myth

Richard P Bentall, et al.
bmj.com, 7 Feb 2007 [Full text]

Changing the name schizophrenia or reversing our research agenda?

Massimiliano Aragona
bmj.com, 9 Feb 2007 [Full text]