Sluggishly progressing schizophrenia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Sluggishly progressing schizophrenia or sluggish schizophrenia (Russian: "вялотекущая шизофрения") was a category of schizophrenia diagnosed by psychiatrists in the Soviet Union. At the time, Western psychiatry recognized only four types of schizophrenia: catatonic, hebephrenic, paranoid, and simple. The diagnostic criteria for this fifth category were so vague that it could be applied to virtually any person not suffering from mental function impairment and having interests beyond survival needs. The diagnosis was sometimes applied to dissidents who were not in fact mentally ill, so that they could be forcibly hospitalized in mental institutions and subjected to treatments including powerful antidepressants and electroconvulsive therapy.

Dissidents who were diagnosed with sluggish schizophrenia included Leonid Plyushch and Zhores Medvedev.

Contents

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] See also