From "Schizophrenia - A Very Short Introduction" by Christopher Frith and Eve Johnstone.
O.U.P. 2003.
"Chapter 2. The Concept of Schizophrenia.
Madness (or what we now call mental disorder) has been recognised and studied since medical records began, although the terms psychosis and schizophrenia are of rather recent origin. Psychosis is any severe form of mental disorder in which the patient has lost touch with reality. Schizophrenia is one of the major examples of a psychotic illness. A patient suffering from psychosis has lost touch with reality in the sense that he or she believes things that cannot possibly be true (delusions) or hears voices and sees visions when there are no sensory stimuli to create them (halllucinations)."
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This first paragraph of Chapter 2 alone self-evidently destroys the validity of the concept of schizophrenia.
A person who believes things which "cannot possibly be true (delusions)" is surely simply mistaken, not ill.
Where is the evidence that they are ill in any way?
How can mistaken beliefs constitute in and of themselves an illness?
Are those who continue to think that Earth is flat "mentally ill" since they have a mistaken belief that cannot possibly be true? Should they be locked away?
Who decides what is reality and what is truth?
Someone having hallucinations might just be using their imagination, as in when you say "Picture this if you will...."
....
If shizophrenia is a mental illness characterised by psychosis, then this involves anyone with a mistaken belief and a break with reality. So anyone with a mistaken belief has schizophrenia.
That surely includes a lot of people.
.....
Another thing I heard was that "schizophrenia" includes "inappropriate emotional responses".
So is this to say that thousands of people in Gaza and elsewhere should be sectioned because they greeted 9-11 with joy?
It all depends on who decides what an inappropriate emotional response is, surely.
.....
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How can I be so sure that "schizophrenia" doesn't exist?
What if they discover it to be "a brain disease"?
I can be totally sure that it doesn't exist because it is defined as "xyz symptoms" and is not defined as a "brain disease". Therefore it cannot exist.
If a (related) brain disease was discovered then it could not be schizophrenia because schizophrenia is by definition not a brain disease or a (biological) disease of any kind.
O.U.P. 2003.
"Chapter 2. The Concept of Schizophrenia.
Madness (or what we now call mental disorder) has been recognised and studied since medical records began, although the terms psychosis and schizophrenia are of rather recent origin. Psychosis is any severe form of mental disorder in which the patient has lost touch with reality. Schizophrenia is one of the major examples of a psychotic illness. A patient suffering from psychosis has lost touch with reality in the sense that he or she believes things that cannot possibly be true (delusions) or hears voices and sees visions when there are no sensory stimuli to create them (halllucinations)."
------
This first paragraph of Chapter 2 alone self-evidently destroys the validity of the concept of schizophrenia.
A person who believes things which "cannot possibly be true (delusions)" is surely simply mistaken, not ill.
Where is the evidence that they are ill in any way?
How can mistaken beliefs constitute in and of themselves an illness?
Are those who continue to think that Earth is flat "mentally ill" since they have a mistaken belief that cannot possibly be true? Should they be locked away?
Who decides what is reality and what is truth?
Someone having hallucinations might just be using their imagination, as in when you say "Picture this if you will...."
....
If shizophrenia is a mental illness characterised by psychosis, then this involves anyone with a mistaken belief and a break with reality. So anyone with a mistaken belief has schizophrenia.
That surely includes a lot of people.
.....
Another thing I heard was that "schizophrenia" includes "inappropriate emotional responses".
So is this to say that thousands of people in Gaza and elsewhere should be sectioned because they greeted 9-11 with joy?
It all depends on who decides what an inappropriate emotional response is, surely.
.....
------
How can I be so sure that "schizophrenia" doesn't exist?
What if they discover it to be "a brain disease"?
I can be totally sure that it doesn't exist because it is defined as "xyz symptoms" and is not defined as a "brain disease". Therefore it cannot exist.
If a (related) brain disease was discovered then it could not be schizophrenia because schizophrenia is by definition not a brain disease or a (biological) disease of any kind.