Treatment, Diagnosis, and Psychological Tests

We are often told today that we should avoid labeling people as schizophrenic or, indeed, as suffering from any other psychiatric illnesses. Those who support this vision seem to believe in some negative kind of magic which resembles that of the ostrich who, they say, buries his head in the sand in order not to perceive his pursuer. I believe there is no solid foundation for the ostrich story; alas, the psychiatric story is only too true. One only has to look at the newspapers to see some of the consequences of not diagnosing well and not diagnosing early. According to the New York Times of Saturday, May 25th, 1974, a polite, soft-spoken young man with no apparent inclination to violence recently hijacked a helicopter demanding a modest $2 million in ransom for the Jewish Defense League. The League said later it had never heard of Mr. Kanalko. This young man is the son of a professor of social work who has always lived at home, has not attended college, seems to be something of a recluse, and his occupation is that of an unemployed gardener. I don't think it is labeling him to suggest that he may very well be suffering from a mental illness and, in