The twilight of "schizophrenia"

Neurologic disorders, alas, are not going away. The concept of "schizophrenia", however, is shuffling off the stage.

Today's obit comes from Kwang-Soo Kim, a stem-cell scientist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts:  "These disorders are not really disorders. There's no such thing as schizophrenia. It's a syndrome. It's a collection of things psychiatrists have grouped together."[1]

Just like autism. Autism is a collection of "things" psychiatrists have grouped together, sustained by law, regulation, tradition -- and the current lack of a better alternative.

[1] Schizophrenia 'in a Dish': Scientific American 4/13/2011

See also:

• Victory: The war against 20th century psychiatric diagnoses is all but won