Schizophrenia as a permanent problem Some aspects of historical evidence in the recency (new disease) hypothesis

Abstract

The historical prevalence of schizophrenia as a persisting medical and social problem has been challenged by a 'recency hypothesis' suggesting that a new form of illness arose in the nineteenth century. The notion of a viral infection has been in the forefront of such claims. Assessment of diagnostic attitudes, the effects of urban industrialism, the economics of asylum care and the forms of illness presentation do not seem to support such a hypothesis. The value of historical evidence in focusing research and clinical care is stressed, as is the need for a conception of aetiology that is not limited to germ theory.