History and the nature of diagnosis. The example of schizophrenia and Kraepelin's recant.
Saved in:
| Title: | History and the nature of diagnosis. The example of schizophrenia and Kraepelin's recant. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Rosenman, Stephen (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Australasian Psychiatry. Apr2026, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p114-117. 4p. |
| Subjects: | Schizophrenia, Diagnosis, Psychiatry, Classification of mental disorders |
| Abstract: | Objective: To examine psychiatry's cardinal diagnoses as historical concepts that reflect the time and place of their origins not their factual status. Schizophrenia is the exemplar. Kraepelin on dementia praecox and Bleuler and Schneider on schizophrenias are examined, including Kraepelin's late unsuccessful attempt to recant his earlier argument. Conclusion: Diagnoses start as speculative aggregations of phenomena peculiar to their time and place. They have been reified as timeless, universal disease processes. Kraepelin made a late radical recanting of his concept yet schizophrenia became the symbol of 20th century psychiatry. Diagnoses like schizophrenia are historical artefacts that deserve their place in psychiatry's history but do not define present problems. They should have been honoured and superseded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Australasian Psychiatry is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
|
Full text is not displayed to guests.
Login for full access.
|
|
| Abstract: | Objective: To examine psychiatry's cardinal diagnoses as historical concepts that reflect the time and place of their origins not their factual status. Schizophrenia is the exemplar. Kraepelin on dementia praecox and Bleuler and Schneider on schizophrenias are examined, including Kraepelin's late unsuccessful attempt to recant his earlier argument. Conclusion: Diagnoses start as speculative aggregations of phenomena peculiar to their time and place. They have been reified as timeless, universal disease processes. Kraepelin made a late radical recanting of his concept yet schizophrenia became the symbol of 20th century psychiatry. Diagnoses like schizophrenia are historical artefacts that deserve their place in psychiatry's history but do not define present problems. They should have been honoured and superseded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 10398562 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/10398562251406050 |
