Abstract | OBJECTIVE: The authors assess implications of DSM criteria for schizophrenia by reviewing the criteria's 1) emphasis on psychotic features, 2) dissociation of symptoms from their etiology, 3) exclusive reliance on clinical features but exclusion of biological indicators, and 4) classification of schizophrenia as a discrete category. The authors then discuss alternative conceptions of schizophrenia that take into account recent data concerning its genetic and neurodevelopmental origins and its pathophysiological substrates. METHOD: The historical development of diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia is reviewed in the context of recent published data on the biology and development of schizophrenia. RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: The success of efforts to treat and prevent schizophrenia will depend to an important extent on an accurate understanding of its causes. This goal can be furthered by conducting field trials to develop research criteria to assess the value of a developmentally sensitive, biologically informed approach to classification that would consider schizotaxia with psychosis ( schizophrenia) and schizotaxia alone as distinct diagnostic conditions.
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Authors | M T Tsuang, W S Stone, S V Faraone |
Journal | The American journal of psychiatry
(Am J Psychiatry)
Vol. 157
Issue 7
Pg. 1041-50
(Jul 2000)
ISSN: 0002-953X [Print] United States |
PMID | 10873908
(Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S., Review)
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Topics |
- Genetic Predisposition to Disease
- Humans
- Schizophrenia
(classification, diagnosis, genetics)
- Schizophrenic Psychology
- Terminology as Topic
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