A Neurophysiological Theory of Schizophrenia

Abstract

In the psychiatric literature in English there is a tendency today to deprecate speculative neurophysiological theories of the “functional” psychiatric disorders, while little is done to halt the flood of far-fetched and untestable hypotheses of the “dynamic” psychopathologists. The present author believes that it is legitimate to postulate a neurophysiological basis for schizophrenia in the hope that those with a more adequate knowledge of neurophysiology will be obliged to re-examine the problem of schizophrenia more fruitfully. Conrad (1958, and Fish, 1960) has given a very interesting interpretation of acute schizophrenic symptoms, so that his approach to schizophrenia forms a very convenient starting point for further speculation. This worker's views will therefore now be presented in some detail before the present author's theories are discussed.