If a diagnosis of schizophrenia is mistakenly applied, the patient will receive the wrong treatment and potentially have the stigma of having a mental illness. For example, if a patient with a toxic (such as phencyclidine induced) psychosis is misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, he or she may be given a long and unnecessary course of antipsychotic drugs. To avoid this situation, psychiatric diagnoses have built-in safeguards in the form of exclusion criteria that prevent a diagnosis from being made if certain conditions are present (for example, a diagnosis of schizophrenia is not permitted unless psychotic symptoms persist for a substantial period of time after the person has stopped using the drug in question).
Concerns about potential stigma associated with having a serious mental illness have resulted in proposals to change the name of schizophrenia. “Integration disorder” and “dopamine dysregulation disorder” have been suggested as possible alternatives.
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