Alvorlig sinnslidelse i et historisk perspektiv

Abstract

The term schizophrenia is being debated worldwide in connection with the updating of current classification systems for mental illness. There is a growing tendency towards a more uniform and dimensional way of thinking, where it is recognised that there is a gradual transition between the symptom patterns in the bipolar and schizophrenia spectrum and individual symptoms are manifested in a continuum extending from well to ill. We have selected some texts from the 1800 s and studied them in the light of the current debate. The purpose of this article is not to explain historical events, and our selection of texts is not claimed to be representative. Rather, we have attempted to bring texts from the past into the current discussion concerning classification and the concept of continuum. In texts from the 1800 s, mental illness was perceived as a spectrum of disorders that ranged from ill to well. Rather than set clear and distinct boundaries between disorders, these authors made it clear that the transitions were gradual. A number of them believed that the different forms taken by mental illness were merely different manifestations of one and the same disorder. Both the manifestations of the illnesses and psychiatrists' diagnostic constructs reflect the practice and thinking of the past. This makes historical reviews fruitful as a backdrop to the current debate.