Making Progress in Schizophrenia Research

Psychiatry is a young, still developing science, that must, against sharp opposition, gradually achieve the position it deserves according to its scientific and practical importance. There is no doubt that it will achieve this position—for it has at its disposal the same weapons which have served the other branches of medicine so well: clinical observation, the micro-scope and experimentation. Emil Kraepelin (p. 8)1 Emil Kraepelin wanted to make progress in psychiatry. He pioneered psychiatric research to improve the status of psychiatry within the field of medicine. His optimism continues to shape psychiatry today.2–4 There is increas-ing concern, however, that Kraepelin did not lead us in the right direction. Most authors have focused on Krae-pelin’s dichotomy of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as the Achilles heel of his diagnostic system.5,6 Some have