Schizophrenic Disorders

JUST as chlorpromazine revolutionized the treatment of schizophrenic disorders in the 1950s, the adoption of the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-III)1 has revitalized the diagnosis. While schizophrenia remains poorly understood, it may at least be better defined as we enter a new decade:The essential features of this group of disorders are: the presence of certain psychotic features during the active phase of the illness, characteristic symptoms involving multiple psychological processes, deterioration from a previous level of functioning, onset before age 45, and a duration of at least six months. The . . .