Why Are We Still Calling People 'Schizophrenic'?

"The term "schizophrenia" is unclear in meaning, even among clinicians, and it is stigmatizing to patients. People called schizophrenic may share no symptoms or outcomes, so the diagnosis is a poor guide to care. It is long past time to retire "schizophrenia" in favor of terms that are more appropriate and more useful. "Schizophrenia" appears frequently in the news. The New York Times website lists more than 6,000 articles mentioning schizophrenia. Sometimes, these are stories of research advances or care."

"Less than 1 percent of people have what official manuals for psychiatric diagnosis call "schizophrenia." However, diagnoses of schizophrenia are common in clinical settings. More than one-third of patients on psychiatric inpatient units are diagnosed as having some form of schizophrenia. 1 And that label for people appears often in movies and novels about troubled characters. What does schizophrenia mean? Is its use appropriate in a medical setting? Is it appropriate in a lay context? To these last two questions, we answer: No."

Schizophrenia originated as a century-old neologism implying a "splitting of psychic functions" and now broadly denotes psychosis. The label covers widely varying presentations including disordered thinking, hallucinations, delusions, extreme mood states, and diverse social behaviors, producing heterogeneous groups with different symptoms and outcomes. Population prevalence estimates are under 1 percent, yet clinical diagnoses and media mentions are common, fueling stigma and misunderstanding. The diagnostic category is vague and provides poor guidance for individualized care. The term's archaic connotations and clinical imprecision support replacing it with more specific, clinically useful, and less stigmatizing terminology.

Read at Psychology Today