Schizophrenia: Time for a Name Change?

YES!! It's time for a change. Actually it's overdue. I don't even like the term "mentally ill." Hollywoods portrayal of us is appalling and damaging. I proposed a different term on a site and the respondse I received was discouraging. One individual stated "you can't change a leopard's spots." I never believed in that. I believe that an avalanche begins with a snowflake. Let's band together and fight for change.

I don't know about the new name, but I do know that when the Dr. told me I was "schizophrenic" I wanted to die.  No cure.  Awful, serious drugs.  Denial...I didn't have seven personalities popping out.  I still am not the most educated of the disease, but I know the name!

Thank you...I think something else would be great for me!!!

Tinker

It's about time someone came up with a more accurate term to describe schizophrenia!  Perhaps if more people use the new term rather than the old one, it may reduce stigma!

As a mother of a 27 year-old daughter who has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia, please add me to the list of those who would love to see a name change.  Both consumers and their families have an uphill battle as it is.  Having a diagnosis associated with a name that has so much stigma attached to it is just one additional hurdle to have to constantly overcome.

Thank you for your wonderful article!

Sincerely,

Lori Pastorelli

In our support group for persons diagnosed with major mental illness we consciously avoid terms like schizophrenic, client, consumer or patient.  With all good intentions we coined a Sanskrit word, shubharthi, which literally means 'seeker of well being.'  We were under the impression that this word was capable of restoring dignity without any connotation of illness or commerce.  However we were shaken up by the remarks of a support group participant who had made considerable progress (transition from not being able to even have eye-contact with another person to being able to interact with a stranger) when she remarked : On my next visit to the doc I will tell him that I don't need any medication as I am no longer a shubharthi.  Which meant that shubharthi, to her, didn't convey anything better than schizophrenic! David, would we gain anything by re-labelling sz as 'integration disorder?'  A person may progress through phases such as sufferer to struggler to survivor to thriver but if he has not learned to carry on with life but is haunted by his past he only is responsible for the self-generated stigma.  I wonder whether Jerry agrees with me. = Gurudatt, Ekalavya Self Help Support Group facilitator, Pune-India

Good to know that they did this in Japan.  I've been wanting to scout other countries to move to but I was worried if I wasn't able to get medications or positive medical treatment.  This just shows that Japan is doing a good deed & being a leader to better educate the WORLD not just their country.  And yes!, Intregration is deffinately possible under these circumstances where we won't be discriminated.  I hope it happens to America soon or else I'm shipping out.  There's just way too much discrimination here for those wanted to get employment even if we are well medicated.  I have a shaky work history because I had to quit work for a very long time to recover...it's embarrassing & depressing when we tell the truth that we were disabled and couldn't work to end up not getting the job for revealing...perhaps you guys should create a website and petition for a name change & to educate work places specifically for mental disorders not just vague descriptions of disabilities.  I cannot find work.  I'm leaving the country.  There's no hope for me here.  Too much discrimination.  I have to survive somehow and living off Social Security Disability is embarrassing when I know I have great skills, an education & degree to back it up.  The American Dream just doesn't seem to exist for us.  I feel that I'm being used by the medical industry.  I know I can be a productive citizen and not let my education go to waste.

I agree, the name should be changed, if only because "Schizophrenia" sounds terrible and unscientific. The disease is very severe and, clever though the words coinage might be, the word 'schizophrenia' is undescriptive (yes, I know it means "split mind" as in mind split from reality), meaningless, hopeless and doesn't suggest the symptoms or body parts involved in orthat cause the condition.

I hear "schizophrenia" and think "What is that? An area in Europe? Some type of shrub? A shade of some color? Doesn't sound like a formiddable, terrifying and possibly life-threatening disease to me."

Why not just keep it simple, call it something like "Perceptual disassociative disorder," something that sounds like an actual disease and gives you a hint of what it's about? Something that implies the mental ataxia (I think that's the word), the delusions..