SCHIZOPHRENIA Romanticized and Stigmatized Throughout History Albert Deutschs

SCHIZOPHRENIA

Romanticized and Stigmatized Throughout History Albert Deutsch’s The Shame of the States (1948) Manhattan State Hospital: "As in most state hospitals for the mentally sick, there were too many crowded dayrooms like this at Manhattan. Enforced idleness in cramped quarters, day after day, often has a tragically deteriorating effect on many patients with schizophrenia who might be helped along the road to recovery by wholesome occupation and recreation. " (The Shame of the States, Albert Deutsch)

Titicut Follies (1967): Bridgewater, Mass.

The King of Hearts (1966)

The predisposition for schizophrenia is largely genetic, but whether or not that predisposition blossoms into schizophrenia depends on many non-genetic (environmental) factors.

Established Risk Factors 1. genetic characteristics 2. gestational and birth complications (particularly in the 2 nd trimester) (Finland W. W. II studies) 3. winter birth (an 8% excess of winter births exists among people with schizophrenia) 4. environment (e. g. , college, first job, first sexual encounter, etc. )

Brain scan of Schizophrenia patient (right) and normal brain (left). The normal brain shows more activity in the frontal cortex.

Role of the Environment and “Forced Treatment” Laws Nearly half of nation’s homeless have schizophrenia. (New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 330, 1994, pp. 681 -690) Loren Mosher, NIMH 1933 -2004