schizophrenogenic

[skit-suh-free-nuh-jen-ik, -fren-]

adjective

1. causative of schizophrenia.

schizophrenogenic

/ -ˌfrɛnəʊ-, ˌskɪtsəʊˌfriːnəʊˈdʒɛnɪk /

adjective

1. tending to cause schizophrenia

Word History and Origins

Origin of schizophrenogenic¹

First recorded in 1945–50; schizophren(ia) + -o- + -genic

Example Sentences

The large, liberal-minded, culturally sophisticated, and apparently fun-loving Galvin family of suburban Colorado Springs raised 12 children in the decades after World War II. Six of Don and Mimi Galvin’s 10 sons would go on to develop schizophrenia, an experience made even more painful by the erroneous psychiatric beliefs of that time, which blamed the disease on “schizophrenogenic” mothers.

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Such personality traits led medical professionals of the day to negatively brand her a “schizophrenogenic mother” — a now-discredited theory that so-called domineering mothers were to blame for their children being schizophrenic.

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One reason was the since-debunked psychoanalytic belief in the “schizophrenogenic mother,” a personality type that supposedly caused the illness in her children.

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She didn’t use terms like “schizophrenogenic mother,” but she did say that they were made to feel that they were at fault.

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Mimi Galvin raised her children during the baby boom, an era when psychiatrists spoke of “schizophrenogenic mothers” who caused mental illness through bad parenting.

Read more on Los Angeles Times