Dear Hmadness readers,

Yvonne Ilg’s new book, “Schizophrenie” in der Alltagssprache: Eine linguistische Begriffsgeschichte 1908–2009, has just been published. It is available in open access via this link: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794472/html#overview

Here is the book’s summary from the publisher’s website: 

“Since it was coined in 1908, the term schizophrenia has undergone a remarkable transformation. As well as being a medical diagnosis, the term is now also used to describe contradictory situations and as an everyday insult. This study traces the term’s evolution over more than 100 years from a linguistic and historical perspective, providing an empirical foundation for contemporary psychiatric debates about the ‘abolition of schizophrenia’.”