Schizophrenia should be renamed to help educate patients and the public.
BACKGROUND
A new name for schizophrenia, reflecting a biopsychosocial conceptualization, may have utility in educating patients and the public. If readily translatable, it would be of great value in transcultural psychiatry. It may be clinically beneficial to psychoeducation in evidence-based treatment modalities such as medication management, multifamily group psycho-education and cognitive therapy.


CONCLUSIONS
Neuro-Emotional Integration Disorder (NEID) is proposed as the biopsychosocial candidate term to replace schizophrenia. The following subtypes are proposed: defensive type replacing paranoid, motoric type replacing catatonic, Brief Neuro-Emotional-Integration Breakdown (B-NEIB) replacing brief psychotic episode, NEID-Time Limited replacing schizophreniform disorder. Schizoaffective disorder might be termed NEID-Bipolar type. Anti-psychotic medication would be termed NEI-Enhancing medication.


CONCLUSIONS
By emphasizing the neuropsychiatric basis of this 'highly treatable brain disorder' through its labeling, stigma may ultimately be reduced. Even if the term NEID is not ultimately adopted, the principles outlined here should be helpful in choosing a replacement term for 'schizophrenia'.
Levin
Tomer
T
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York 10022, USA. levint@mskcc.org
D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011287:Prejudice; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011639:Public Opinion; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D009626:Terminology as Topic