Schizophrenia Goodbye

Posted on October 9, 2006 in Psycho-bunk Schizophrenia

The current move to eliminate the term “schizophrenia” may have its roots in anti-psychiatry, but there are mainstream psychiatrists who think that it’s a good idea. So do I. Schizophrenia indicated a “divided self”, suggesting what has been called “multiple personality disorder” when in fact it is no such thing.

The antipsychiatrists naturally do not want any term replacing it. They argue that schizophrenics are people damaged by their life histories. This may be true and the diagnosis — any diagnosis suggesting that the main disease is organic — should not lead us to ignore the accusations of abuse that some patients make. On the other hand, the mechanism of the syndrome has been documented both genetically and physiologically. The antipsychiatrists are caught trying once more to make people invest valuable money and time in aimless talk therapy where medication plus cognitive therapy will help much more.

What to call those who suffer from the disease we now know as schizophrenia? “Dopamine dysregulation disorder” is the term proffered by one psycho-lexicographer. It’s neat and describes exactly what the disease is all about. It also suggests a treatment — adjusting the dopamine levels in the brain or better still the organic agencies responsible for the secretion of dopamines.

Anti-psychiatry both wants people to be miserable and not to have an illness responsible for that misery. Its denials of chemistry amount to a shell game. “We’re only treating the symptoms” they say of psychopharmological attempts to corral the suffering and relieve it. Then they offer a program which does nothing to address the organic issues, but tries to undo the results of trauma with talk. It’s not unlike trying to heal a hemorrhage by invoking the memory of the hammer that did it.

The main effect of eliminating the term will be to end its use as a derogative. For those of us suffering from mental illness, schizophrenia often represented the pit of no return. For many years, doctors used this term to class patients who they could not otherwise identify including those suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder.

There will be a long lingering of the word in the common tongue. The insensitive will still use it to attack those — sane and insane — who they do not understand. Gradually, the phrase will be forgotten and hopefully the damage done to the morale of those suffering from dopamine imbalances will fade. We cannot, I think, entirely eliminate stigma, but by emphasizing the mechanism and its cure, we might be able to remove from the parlance some tools for attack.