The Diagnosis and Treatment of Schizophrenia

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Abstract
Variations in the attitude of psychiatrists to schizophrenia range from the precise and confident pronouncement of Sargant and Slater (1963) “Chlorpromazine seems to bring the schizophrenic process to a rapid halt, and to lessen the chance of chronicity and deterioration of personality” to the fundamental doubts expressed by Szasz (1957) “The problem of schizophrenia, which many consider to be the core-problem of psychiatry today, may be truly akin to the ‘problem of the ether‘. To put it simply, there is no such problem.” The literature abounds in varying, conflicting and even irreconcilable treatment suggestions. One has only to compare the physical treatment schedules recommended by Sargant (1963) with the advocacy of psychotherapy put forward by Arieti (1959); or the views on drugs of Kalinowski (1958) with the Hordern and Hamilton (1963) assertion that drug results have not been shown to be superior to the effects of “moral treatment” of a century ago. Similar comparisons in the social field might be made between the views of Hamilton and Salmon (1962) and Hamilton (1964) on sheltered workshops and the difficulties of rehabilitation programmes demonstrated by Catterson et al. (1963).