[Current status of studies of schizophrenia after DSM-III]

The reinforcement of biological studies of schizophrenia by the DSM-III had been promoted by the general medicalization of psychiatry itself, following the successful introduction of antipsychotic drugs as well as the advance in brain research. The traditional view of schizophrenia has included since the time of Kraepelin till present the presumed biological basic diseases and specific psychological reaction. The DSM notion of schizophrenia presumes exclusively biological aspects in that it is based on a very simple unitary model, although the lack of sufficient validity has not been compensated by the advance in the biological studies that produced a number of related findings but not the marker of schizophrenia. The exclusion of the concept of psychosis makes it difficult to discuss the semantic isolation in which the patients of this disorder are often entrapped. The symptoms are regarded as indices of presumed biological diseases rather than a product of semantic interaction. The simple model of schizophrenia is easy to use in biological studies but too weak to give clinical significance to the various findings detected. It will be insightful to look into other modes of diagnosis such as Kleist-Leonhardt or French school as well as subtle basic disturbance in German school that are not mentioned in the current DSM system.