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

Anna Landolt; Mario Müller; Yvonne Ilg; Peter J Schulz; Paul Hoff; Erich Seifritz; Anke Maatz

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2024.03.045

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

Schizophr Res. 2024 Apr 13:267:341-348. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.03.045. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Anna Landolt¹, Mario Müller², Yvonne Ilg³, Peter J Schulz⁴, Paul Hoff¹, Erich Seifritz¹, Anke Maatz⁵

Affiliations

¹ Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Lenggstrasse 31, 8032 Zürich, Switzerland.
² Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Lenggstrasse 31, 8032 Zürich, Switzerland; Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Centre for Social Psychiatry, Militärstrasse 8, 8021 Zürich, Switzerland.
³ German Department, University of Zurich, Schönberggasse, 8008 Zürich, Switzerland; Competence Centre Language & Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴ Università della Svizzera Italiana, Institute of Communication and Health, Via Buffi 13, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland; Department of Communication & Media, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea.
⁵ Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Lenggstrasse 31, 8032 Zürich, Switzerland; Competence Centre Language & Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: anke.maatz@pukzh.ch.

PMID: 38615562
DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2024.03.045

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Culture; Language; Medical humanities; Nosology; Stigma; Taxonomy.