From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.science.mathematics.categories/6353 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Tom Leinster Newsgroups: gmane.science.mathematics.categories Subject: Re: "schizophrenic" reference Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2010 02:56:13 +0000 Message-ID: References: <20101101135231.CF3035C25C@chase.mathstat.dal.ca> Reply-To: Tom Leinster NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="US-ASCII" X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1288799972 610 80.91.229.12 (3 Nov 2010 15:59:32 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2010 15:59:32 +0000 (UTC) To: Original-X-From: majordomo@mlist.mta.ca Wed Nov 03 16:59:27 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from smtpx.mta.ca ([138.73.1.114]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1PDfk9-0003RC-8L for gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org; Wed, 03 Nov 2010 16:59:21 +0100 Original-Received: from mlist.mta.ca ([138.73.1.63]:50621) by smtpx.mta.ca with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1PDfjT-00031H-IL; Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:58:39 -0300 Original-Received: from majordomo by mlist.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1PDfjP-0005P8-NO for categories-list@mlist.mta.ca; Wed, 03 Nov 2010 12:58:36 -0300 In-Reply-To: Precedence: bulk Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.science.mathematics.categories:6353 Archived-At: On Mon, 1 Nov 2010, Dusko Pavlovic wrote: > tom's was just the one where i blew up. i am sorry, tom. No problem. I understand that posts about terminology get tedious, but I do actually think this matters. Mental health organizations constantly have to fight misconceptions about mental illness. Those misconceptions can do real harm to those who are ill. Schizophrenia as "split personality" is one of them. For example, Mind, a well-known British mental health charity, says: There is more media misinformation about schizophrenia than about any other psychiatric diagnosis. It's not true that schizophrenia means 'split personality' Many websites on mental health contain statements along similar lines; a few links are below. We have the freedom to choose any term we like for the mathematical concept. We can do a small good thing by not choosing a term that perpetuates a damaging myth about a serious psychiatric disorder. Best wishes, Tom Links: http://www.mind.org.uk/help/diagnoses_and_conditions/schizophrenia#danger http://helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm http://healthmad.com/mental-health/seven-myths-and-misconceptions-about-schizophrenia/ http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_6112881_common-misconceptions-schizophrenia.html http://overcomingschizophrenia.blogspot.com/2008/09/common-misconceptions-about.html [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]