preschizophrenicn.adj.
/priːˌskɪtsəˈfrɛnɪk/, U.S. /priˌskɪtsəˈfrɛnɪk/, /priˌskɪtsəˈfrinɪk/ Psychiatry.
A. n.
A person showing symptoms typical of the period prior to the onset of schizophrenia. Also (with the): such persons collectively.
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the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > schizophrenia > preschizophrenia > person
preschizophrenic1932
1932 Smith Coll. Stud. Soc. Work 3 145 Only four of the patients..were of the..type often thought to be common among the pre-schizophrenic.
1964 C. M. Thompson in M. R. Green Interpersonal Psychoanal. xxxiii. 316 It is characteristic of the preschizophrenic that all true object relationships are impossible.
1987 Psychiatric Devel. 5 247 Others have also alluded to an unlocalized organic malfunction in a subset of preschizophrenics which arises during the first years of life.
B. adj.
Of or relating to the period prior to the onset of schizophrenia.
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the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [adjective] > schizophrenia > preschizophrenia
preschizophrenic1942
1942 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 47 645 More careful studies of the ‘pre-schizophrenic personality’ are very much needed.
1958 L. Bellak Schizophrenia i. 54 The pre-schizophrenic personality may be sociopathic, infantile,..brilliantly highstrung.
1989 M. C. Smith Polar Star i. ix. 100 The diagnosis was ‘pre-schizophrenic syndrome’, as if the doctors could confidently predict.
Derivatives
preschizoˈphrenia n. the condition of a person prior to the onset of schizophrenia.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > degree or type of mental illness > [noun] > schizophrenia > preschizophrenia
preschizophrenia1946
1946 F. M. Teagarden Child Psychol. for Professional Workers (rev. ed.) iii. 103 Much of this behavior brought ‘Pre-schizophrenia’ to mind.
1979 Social Forces 58 548 The manifestation of schizophrenia, or preschizophrenia-like symptoms, operates as a more important selection factor in marriage than the symptoms..of other functional disorders.
1994 Brit. Med. Jrnl. (Nexis) 17 Sept. 699 Overinhibition is characteristic of preschizophrenia in girls rather than boys.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1932