This work examines the historical conceptualization of schizophrenia through definition from 1908–1987. Rather than reveal an essentialist definition of schizophrenia in North America, it reveals a history of varying and competing professional definitions. It demonstrates and historically contextualizes how widespread conceptual instability and disagreement over the nature of the concept gave rise to a new, but still contested, theoretical emphasis on operational definitions. As made manifest through definition, schizophrenia has not been a stable transhistorical object. Rather, the characteristic feature in schizophrenia definition appears to be instability and variance rather than stability or long historical periods of agreement. This analysis nevertheless cautions against overstating the importance of fluctuating definition in assessing the ontological status of contemporary interpretations of schizophrenia.
AbrahamK. (1927). The psychosexual differences between hysteria and dementia praecox. In BryanD.StrackyA. (Eds.), Selected Papers of Karl Abraham (pp. 64–79). London, UK: Hogarth. (Original work published 1908)
2.
American Psychiatric Association. (1952). The diagnostic and statistical manual for mental disorders. Washington, DC: Author.
3.
American Psychiatric Association. (1968). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
4.
American Psychiatric Association. (1980). The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
5.
ArietiS. (1955). Interpretation of schizophrenia. New York, NY: Robert Brunner.
6.
BaynesH. G. (1940). Mythology of the soul. London, UK: Routledge and Keegan Paul Ltd.
7.
BeckS. J. (1954). The six schizophrenias.New York, NY: The American Orthopsychiatric Association.
8.
BellakL. (1952). Dementia praecox. The past decade’s work and present status: A review and evaluation. New York, NY: Grune & Stratton. (Original work published 1947)
9.
BerriosG. (1996). The history of mental symptoms. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
10.
BerriosG. E.LuqueR.VillagránJ. M. (2003). Schizophrenia: A conceptual history. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 3(2), 111–140.
11.
BleulerE. (1908). Die prognose der dementia praecox—schizophreniegruppe [The prognosis of the dementia praecox—schizophrenia group]. Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatric und Psychisch-Gerichtliche Medizin, 65, 436–464.
12.
BleulerE. (1924). Textbook of psychiatry (BrillA. A., Trans.). New York, NY: Macmillan. (Original work published 1916)
13.
BleulerE. (1952). Dementia praecox or the group of schizophrenias (ZinkinJ., Trans.). New York, NY: International Universities Press. (Original work published 1911)
14.
BoringE. G. (1945). The use of operational definitions in science. The Psychological Review, 52(5), 243–245.
BradleyC. (1941). Childhood schizophrenia. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company.
17.
BridgemanP. W. (1927). The logic of modern physics. New York, NY: The Macmillian Company.
18.
BrillA. A. (1909). A case of schizophrenia (dementia praecox). American Journal of Insanity, 66, 53–70.
19.
BrockingtonI. (1985). Diagnosis of schizophrenia and schizoaffective psychoses. In BradleyP. B.HirschS. R. (Eds.), The psychopharmacology and treatment of schizophrenia (pp. 166–200). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
20.
BrunoF. J. (1986). Dictionary of key words in psychology. London, UK: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
21.
CampbellC. (1934). A discussion of some errors in the diagnosis of schizophrenia. In CampbellC.WilsonE. (Eds.), Statistical studies from the Boston psychopathic hospital, 1925–1934 (pp. 41–51). Concord, NH: Rumford Press. (Original work published 1929)
22.
CardwellM. (1986). Dictionary of psychology. Chicago, IL: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.
23.
ChapmanL. J.ChapmanJ. P. (1973). Disordered thought in schizophrenia. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
24.
CooperD. (1970). Psychiatry and anti-psychiatry. London, UK: Paladin.
25.
CoriatI. (1914). Recent trends in the psychopathology of dementia praecox. American Journal of Psychiatry, 70, 669–682.
26.
CoriatI. (1917). Some statistical results of the psychoanalytic treatment of the psycho-neuroses. Psychoanalytic Review, 4(2), 209–217.
27.
CurranD.GuttmanE. (1946). Psychological medicine (2nd ed.). Edinburgh, UK: E. & S. Livingstone.
28.
DeckerH. S. (2007). How Kraepelinian was Kraepelin? How Kraepelinian are the neo-Kraepelinians? From Emil Kraepelin to DSM-III. History of Psychiatry, 18, 337–360.
29.
DespertJ. L. (1938). Schizophrenia in children. Psychiatric Quarterly, 12, 336–371.
30.
FarberM. L. (1938). A critique and investigation of Kretschmer’s theory. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 33(3), 398–404.
31.
FoucaultM. (1987). Mental illness and psychology (SheridanA., Trans.). Berkeley: University of California press. (Original work published 1954)
32.
FreudS. (1981). On narcissism: An introduction. In StracheyJ. (Ed. & Trans.) & FreudA. (Ed.), The standard edition of the complete works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. xiv, pp. 74–67). London, UK: The Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1914)
33.
GottesmanI. I.ShieldsJ. (1972). Schizophrenia and genetics: A twin study vantage point. London, UK: Academic Press.
34.
GregoryR. L. (1987). The Oxford companion to the mind. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
35.
HackingI. (1999). The social construction of what?Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
36.
HarrimanP. L. (1947). Dictionary of psychology. New York, NY: The Philosophical Library Inc.
37.
HinsieL. E.CampbellR. J. (1970). Psychiatric dictionary (4th ed.). London, UK: Oxford University Press.
38.
HinsieL. E.ShatzkyJ. (1940). Psychiatric dictionary. London, UK: Oxford University Press.
HoskinsR. G. (1946). The biology of schizophrenia. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
41.
HowellsJ. G.OsbornM. L. (1984). A reference companion to the history of abnormal psychology. London, UK: Greenwood Press.
42.
HutchingsR. H. (1945). A psychiatric word book (7th ed.). Utica, NY: The State Hospitals Press.
43.
InglebyD. (Ed.). (1981). Critical psychiatry: The politics of mental health. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
44.
JanssonL. B.ParnasJ. (2006). Competing definitions of schizophrenia: What can be learned from polydiagnostic studies. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 33(5), 1178–1200.
45.
JelliffeS. E.LatimerC. W. (1915). Appleton’s medical dictionary. New York, NY: D. Appleton & Company.
46.
JörgerJ. B. (1918). Über Dienstverweigerer und Friedensapostel [On conscientious objectors and apostles of peace]. Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie, 43, 117–133.
47.
KasaninJ. (1933). The acute schizoaffective psychoses. American Journal of Psychiatry, 90, 97–127.
48.
KasaninJ.KaufmannM. R. (1929). A study of the functional psychoses in childhood. American Journal of Psychiatry, 86, 307–383.
49.
KendellR. (1975). Schizophrenia: The remedy for diagnostic confusion. In SilverstoneT.BarracloughB. (Eds.), Contemporary psychiatry: Selected reviews from the British Journal of Hospital Medicine (pp. 11–17). Kent, UK: Headley Brothers. (Original work published 1972)
50.
KopeloffL. M.KopeloffN.HinsieL. E.EtchellsJ. L. (1935). Tuberculous bacillemia and dementia praecox. The Journal of Bacteriology, 30(1), 49–59.
51.
KraepelinE. (1919). Dementia praecox and paraphrenia (BarclayM., Trans.). Chicago, IL: Chicago Medical Book Company. (Original work published 1913)
52.
KraepelinE. (1992). Der erscheinungsformen des irreseins [The manifestations of insanity]. History of Psychiatry, 3(12), 503–529. (Original work published 1920)
53.
KraepelinE. (2002). Lectures on clinical psychiatry (JohnstoneT., Trans.). Bristol, UK: Thoemmes Press. (Original work published 1904)
54.
KretschmerE. (1921). Körperbau und Charakter [Physique and character]. Berlin, Germany: Julius Springer.
55.
LadellR. M. (1951). A dictionary of psychological terms. London, UK: W. M. Samson.
56.
LaingR. D. (1967). The study of family and social contexts in relation to the origin of schizophrenia. In RomanoJ. (Ed.), The origins of schizophrenia (pp. 139–146). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Excerpta Medica Foundation.
57.
LidzT. (1978). A developmental theory. In ShershowJ. (Ed.), Schizophrenia: Science and practice (p. 70). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
58.
MayJ. V. (1931). The dementia praecox-schizophrenia problem. American Journal of Psychiatry, 88, 401–446.
59.
McNallyK. (2007). Schizophrenia as split personality/Jekyll and Hyde: The origins of the informal usage in the English language. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 43(1), 69–79.
60.
MeyerA. (1910). The nature and conception of dementia praecox. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 5(5), 247–285.
61.
MeyersM. K. (Ed.). (1924). Lang’s German-English dictionary of terms used in medicine and the allied sciences (3rd ed.). London, UK: J. & A. Churchill.
62.
PolandJ. (2007). How to move beyond the concept of schizophrenia. In ChungM.FulfordK. W. M.GrahamG. (Eds.), Reconceiving schizophrenia (pp. 45–56). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
ShershowJ. (Ed.). (1978). Schizophrenia: Science and practice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
69.
SolomonM. (1917). Need for a stricter definition of terms in psychopathology. The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 12(3), 195–199.
70.
SouthardE. E. (1910). A study of the dementia praecox group in the light of certain cases showing anomalies or scleroses in particular brain-regions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 67, 119–176.
71.
StedmanT. L. (1911). A practical medical dictionary. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
72.
SullivanH. S. (1931). The modified psychoanalytic treatment of schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 88, 519–540.
73.
SzaszT. (1957). The problem of psychiatric nosology. American Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 405–413.
74.
TellerD. N.DenberH. C. (1968). Defining schizophrenia with the techniques of molecular biology. Disease of the Nervous System, 29(5), 93–112.
75.
TravisL. E. (1924). Test for distinguishing between schizophrenoses and psychoneuroses. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 19, 283–298.
76.
WarrenH. C. (1934). Dictionary of psychology. Cambridge, UK: The Riverside Press.
77.
WeinerH. (1980). Schizophrenia: Etiology. In KaplanH.FreedmanA.SadockB. (Eds.), Comprehensive textbook of psychiatry (3rd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 1121–1153). London, UK: Williams & Wilkins.
78.
WellsF. L. (1946). Hölderlin: Greatest of “schizophrenics”. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 41(2), 199–206.
79.
WillO. A. (1980). Schizophrenia: Psychological treatment. In KaplanH.FreedmanA.SadockB. (Eds.), Comprehensive textbook of psychiatry (3rd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 1217–1240). London, UK: Williams &Wilkins.
80.
WilsonI. (1935, February9). London association of the medical women’s federation. The Lancet, 225(5815), 327.
81.
WingJ. K. (1978). Schizophrenia: Towards a new synthesis. London, UK: Academic Press.
82.
ZubinJ. (Ed.). (1961). Field studies in the mental disorders. London, UK: Grune & Stratton.
