Schizophrenia—Disease or Syndrome?

The extensive literature concerning disorders which may sometimes be associated with a picture closely resembling schizophrenia is discussed. The results of a survey of such conditions in Victoria, Australia, mental hospitals are summarized, and several illustrative case histories described. The futility of attempts to distinguish at a given point in time between certain organic psychoses and schizophrenia itself is emphasized, and a proposed reclassification of schizophrenia into symptomatic and idiopathic types is again suggested. This is merely an extension of the idea of a number of prominent psychiatrists, but should prove of value in psychiatric thinking.