[Vision2020] Definition Of "Schizophrenic" Will Boggle Mind

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

All:

The word "schizophrenic" has been tossed around on V2020 as if people 
actually know what it means, though the intent of some posts may have been sarcastic 
and humorous, rather than to use this word as a technical medical description.

I am posting to the list two sources for a definition of "schizophrenia."  To 
anyone thoroughly surveying these definitions, it should be obvious that this 
word has become a catch all phrase for a wide range of behavioral and mental 
difficulties that are so different in etiology and description that using the 
word "schizophrenic" to label someone can be very imprecise and misleading.  
Some in the psychiatric profession have suggested abandoning use of this word 
due to these difficulties.  The word "schizophrenic" originates from a very 
primitive period in the development of human understanding of the mind/brain of 
our species.  It is nearly as useless a term to specifically and precisely 
describe a mental illness as labeling someone "bonkers."

Below find the "American" and "European" definition.  

http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis1/p21-ps01.html

http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-ps01.html

Ted Moffett

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20050504/f87c2bd8/attachment.htm