Linguistic and (micro)cultural differences in the global debate about re-naming 'schizophrenia': A mixed-methods survey from Switzerland.

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: This survey explores Swiss mental health professionals', users', and relatives' opinions on re-naming schizophrenia exploiting Switzerland's specific multilingualism to examine possible effects of linguistic and microcultural differences on the issue. STUDY DESIGN: Opinions on 'schizophrenia' were collected using a self-rated online questionnaire incl. Freetext answers available in the three main Swiss languages, German, French and Italian. It was distributed to the main professional and self-help organizations in Switzerland between June and October 2021. STUDY RESULTS: Overall, 449 persons completed the questionnaire, 263 in German, 172 in French and 14 in Italian. Of the total sample, 339 identified as mental health professionals, 81 as relatives and 29 as users. Considering the whole sample, almost half favored a name-change with a significant difference between stakeholder- and between language groups. Also, the name 'schizophrenia' was evaluated more critically than the diagnostic concept. Qualitative analysis of freetext answers showed a highly heterogenous argumentation, but no difference between language groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest the attitude towards re-naming might itself be subject to (micro)cultural difference, and they highlight the nature of 'schizophrenia' as not only a scientific, but also a linguistic and cultural object. Such local factors ought to be taken into consideration in the global debate.

[Incredible language! A qualitative investigation of conversations about delusions]. / Wahnsinns Sprache! Eine qualitative Untersuchung zur kommunikativen Darstellung von Wahn im Gespräch.

BACKGROUND: Communicating about delusions is generally considered a challenging task. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Assuming that there are nevertheless a variety of communicative resources competently employed to meet this challenge, the authors present a conversation analytic study of two narrative interviews in which people talk about their experience of delusions. RESULTS: It is shown that through pauses, breaks, reformulations, negotiations of the so-called common ground and the use of metaphoric speech, they succeed in conveying many aspects of the experience of delusions that cannot simply be described in terms of content. CONCLUSIONS: These examples of communicative strategies can be a resource for others and encourage mental health professionals and users alike to engage in conversations on delusions.

The Ins and Outs of 'Schizophrenia': Considering Diagnostic Terms as Ordinary Linguistic Expressions.

Diagnostic terms in psychiatry like 'schizophrenia' and 'bipolar disorder' are deeply contested in the professional community, by mental health activists and the public. In this paper, we provide a theoretical framework for considering diagnostic terms as ordinary linguistic expressions and illustrate this approach by a corpus linguistic analysis of 'schizophrenia.' Our aim is to show how a focus on language itself can inform current and future debates about psychiatric terminology and provide new insights on relevant processes concerning their actual usage and change over time. We hope that this contributes to enhancing mutual understanding between different discourse spheres and stakeholders.