Diagnostic discrepancy in personal accounts of patients with 'schizophrenia'

C. North and R. Cadoret

Five published accounts of patients with "schizophrenia" were reviewed in the light of the DSM-III diagnostic criteria. None of the accounts unequivocally met the DSM-III criteria for schizophrenia, but all did meet the criteria for some other psychiatric condition, especially affective disorders. The survey results suggest that popular accounts of "schizophrenia" present a confusing picture of schizophrenia. Inasmuch as these accounts often are invoked to support "cures," the reading pubic is doubly misled, as when a naturally remitting condition such as depression is mistakenly called schizophrenia. The psychiatric profession has a responsibility to clarify diagnostic misconceptions put forth in popular literature, and DSM-III might provide more objective guidelines for this much-needed clarification.