Should Psychiatry Drop Schizophrenia From the Lexicon?

Is the diagnosis “schizophrenia” a misnomer? Should psychotic illness be understood more along the lines of a spectrum? Psychiatrist Jim van Os, MD, PhD, of Maastricht University in The Netherlands, thinks so. He argues in a commentary in The BMJ that today’s variety of diagnoses with psychotic elements should be “viewed as part of the same spectrum syndrome, with a lifetime prevalence of 3.5%, in which ‘schizophrenia’ represents the minority (less than a third) with the poorest outcome, on average.” MedPage Today reached out to several experts in psychiatry, who largely agreed with van Os’ thesis. One of them — Ole Thienhaus, MD, chief of psychiatry at the University of Arizona — explains his support in this exclusive MedPage Today video.