[Schizophrenia: pars pro toto for psychiatry? : A historical essay on the status of schizophrenia in psychiatric discourse].

[Schizophrenia: pars pro toto for psychiatry? : A historical essay on the status of schizophrenia in psychiatric discourse].
Nervenarzt. 2016 Mar 14;
Authors: Maatz A, Hoff P
Abstract
In the history of psychiatry, "schizophrenia" has often been portrayed as the discipline's pars pro toto, which prototypically represents mental illness as such and which draws together the fundamental questions concerning psychiatric epistemology and practice. Taking a conceptual history approach, this essay examines how "schizophrenia" is represented in psychiatric discourse and what aspects of its representation account for the pars pro toto status. Three such aspects are identified: a pragmatic, an existential and a justificatory aspect. Following up these aspects in present day psychiatric discourse, it is concluded that "schizophrenia" is losing its special status as the representations of psychiatry and of mental illness have changed and become more diverse. Tentative conclusions regarding current debates about the abolition of "schizophrenia" are drawn.
PMID: 26975653 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Der Nervenarzt - March 14, 2016 Category: Neurology Authors: Maatz A, Hoff P Tags: Nervenarzt Source Type: research