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Schizophrenia as a Recent Disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Edward Hare
Edward Hare*
Affiliation:
The Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals
*
∗ 47 Alleyn Road, London SE21 8AD
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Abstract

The hypothesis that schizophrenia is a recent disease can explain why descriptions of schizophrenia-like disorders were rare before 1800, why the prevalence of insanity in the Western world increased during the 19th but remained low in the non-Western world until the 20th century, and why schizophrenia has become milder in the West during recent decades. It also explains why schizophrenia has ‘persisted’ in spite of its associated low fertility. The evidence for the hypothesis is somewhat frail, but perhaps not more so than that for alternative hypotheses.

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Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 153 , Issue 4 , October 1988 , pp. 521 - 531
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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