Schizophrenia

Pronunciation

• AHD: skÄ­t′sÉ™frÄ“nÄ“É™, skÄ­t′sÉ™frÄ•nÄ“É™ or skÄ­zÉ™frÄ“nÄ“É™

Origin

First attested 1910, from New Latin, from German Schizophrenie, coined by Eugen Bleuler, from Ancient Greek σχίζω (skhizō, "I tear, split, cut") + φρήν (phrēn, "mind, brain, diaphragm").

Full definition of schizophrenia

Noun

1. (pathology) A psychiatric diagnosis denoting a persistent, often chronic, mental illness variously affecting behavior, thinking, and emotion.
2. (informal) Any condition in which disparate or mutually exclusive activities coexist.

Derived terms

• borderline schizophrenia
• catatonic schizophrenia (catatonia)
• disorganized schizophrenia
• hebephrenic schizophrenia (hebephrenia)
• latent schizophrenia
• paranoid schizophrenia
• paraphrenic schizophrenia
• reactive schizophrenia
• schizophrenic

Synonyms

• dementia praecox
• schizophrenic disorder
• schizophrenic psychosis