The problem of diagnosis in paranoic disorder.

Abstract

The purpose of this article has been three-fold: (1) to call attention to the deplorable situation regarding the reluctance of most psychiatrists to diagnose paranoic disorder where such a diagnosis is clearly indicated; (2) to affirm that the confusion between paranoic disorder and paranoid schizophrenia, where it exists, is largely unnecessary; and (3) to render differential diagnosis of these two psychoses more certain and accurate by the addition to the classical symptomatology of several sociogenic, psychogenic, and associative trends that occur in these psychoses with high statistical frequency. Thus in addition to the well-known symptoms, the paranoic patient is found to have grown up in an atmosphere of suppression, harshness, hostility, and frequently of brutality. The paranoid schizophrenic is less likely to have been reared in this type of home. Diagnosis should take into account, furthermore, the prepsychotic personality of the patient. The diagnostic value of the prepsychotic personality, in ...