Selected excerpts by Brian Koehler from:

Psychological Medicine(2013),43, 1555–1567. © Cambridge University Press 2013

BILL GEORGE AND AADT KLIJN Anoiksis Think Tank, Utrecht, The Netherlands(Email: bill.george@planet.nl)

Forum A modern name for schizophrenia (PSS) [Psychosis Susceptibility Syndrome] would diminish self-stigma...

“The first country to change the name of schizophrenia was Japan (Sato,2006). The campaign began in 1993after an initiative by the family movement. They approached the Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology (JSPN) to find a new name for Seishin Bunretsu Byo (split mind). This was but a part of the programme to counter the misunderstandings and prejudices surrounding the concept of schizophrenia.After a series of polls, symposia and study days the committee of the JSPN responsible for the image of schizophrenia chose the name Togo-Shitcho Sho (integration dysregulation syndrome). After a public hearing the term was adopted. The result was that patients were better able to accept the diagnosis. The stigma associated with the old terminology dates back to the frightening treatment of people with schizophrenia and the poor course of the disease at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century….

The stigma diminished as a result of the name change and accompanying dissemination of factual information. The name Togo-Shitcho Sho was more acceptable to patients than ‘split mind’: psychiatrists were able to inform their patients of the diagnosis in a more acceptable way, resulting in better adherence and less relapse; patients were more willing to seek help; there were fewer suicides, indicating that patients had a healthier self-image and less self-stigma…Evans-Lackoet al.(2012) have shown that there is a trend for patients’self-stigma to arise from internalization of surrounding stigmatizing attitudes. By statistics the subjective is made objective: Evans-Lackoet al. conclude from data sets from the Eurobarometer survey and the GAMIAN-Europe study that there is a connection between public stigmatizing of mental illness and patients’ fragile self-appraisal: patients are prone to internalize the stigma attached to mental health problems by the general public. ..

We are providing insights into the condition in conjunction with a campaign to change the label‘ schizophrenia’. That label we experience as encapsulating the hindrance to our self-acceptance. It stands in the way of a healthy self-regard.

…That a new name can offer more social opportunities to those labelled by it is shown by the case of Down syndrome. Since this term was introduced, people with Down syndrome are treated with greater respect and better accepted in society.

…The chair of the appropriate DSM-5 (Diagnostic andStatistical Manual of Mental Disorders) work group of the American Psychiatric Association, Will Carpenter, wrote to us in an e-mail on 20 October 2012:

“Stigma is a problem for many reasons. A name change may behelpful, but a name change needs universal use and should be worked out by a properly constituted work group comprising the relevant stakeholders making a recommendation to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and DSM processes. I think it would be proper for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to use its convening authority to address this issue [quoted with permission].”

“The choice of a new name is under vigorous discussion globally (van Os,2009; George,2010a,b). Anoiksis is now campaigning internationally for the term‘Psychosis Susceptibility Syndrome’(PSS).’

…Providing better information about mental illness and facilitating direct social contact in order to lessen the stigmatizing by the general public will also enable us patients to form a healthier image of ourselves.”