Schizophrenia: Recent Perspectives in Schizophrenia
The term 'dementia praecox' was first used in the Nineteenth Century to express the melancholy of adolescence, accompanied by an atrophy of activity and of intellectual acuteness.
Abstract
History Early in the Twentieth Century the term 'schizophrenia', or splitting of the mind, first came into use as the descriptive word for the shattered synthesis of thought, mood and behaviour which marks persons afflicted with one of the most common of mental disorders, but the symptoms of schizophrenia had been noted long before a state of degenerated appearance, inappropriate or withdrawn behaviour and preoccupation with, or even reliance upon fantasy had been described in earlier centuries. People with these symptoms were the object of benevolent interest during the Roman civilization. During the centuries when European culture was developing they were closeted in private family quarters or in public asylums. Those given to religious preoccupation were accused of being possessed by the devil and were burned at the stake. During the Eighteenth Century, with its kindlier philosophy, attempts were made to treat the mentally ill with stimulants and sedatives or with exposure to sudden shocking changes in body temperature. In the Nineteenth Century there was a surge of interest in the classification of mental diseases. Workers in the field sought a middle ground between proponents of a systemization of numerous major diseases and those who would lump all symptoms together as simple insanity. The term 'dementia praecox' was first used in the Nineteenth Century to express the melancholy of adolescence, accompanied by an atrophy of activity and of intellectual acuteness. This disorder was believed to be hereditary and its course to be irrevocably