THE EFFECT OF DIAGNOSTIC LABELING ON THE LAY THEORY REGARDING SCHIZOPHRENIC DISORDERS

On the basis of a representative survey carried out in Germany in the Autumn of 1990, hypotheses about the effect of diagnostic labelling on lay beliefs regarding shizophrenic disorders were tested. As expected , labelling the disorder as schizophrenia increased the likelihood tha t biological factors were considered to be aetiologically relevant, wh ile psychosocial stress, which most often was held responsible stress, which most often was held responsible without labelling, was cited le ss frequently as a cause. Thus, labelling the disorder as schizophreni a can be assumed to cause lay-aetiological beliefs to more closely app roximate theories predominant among psychiatric experts. In addition, both the sufferers themselves as well as their parents were less frequ ently held responsible for the onset of the disorder. However, with di agnostic labelling the treatment prognosis was assessed less favourabl y. In sum, our results do not furnish a definite argument either for o r against the explicit diagnosing of schizophrenia.