A history of childhood schizophrenia and lessons for autism

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

About the autistic author marker

Fellowes, S. (2024). A history of childhood schizophrenia and lessons for autism. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 46(3), 29-29. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-024-00627-5

Publication date: 12 Aug 2024 Added to AutiHub: 14 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)

Abstract

Abstract The diagnosis of childhood schizophrenia was widely employed in the U.S. from the 1930s to the late 1970s. In this paper I will provide a history of the diagnosis. Some of the earliest publications on childhood schizophrenia outlined the notion that childhood schizophrenia had different types. I will outline the development of these types, outlining differing symptoms and causes associated with various types. I outline how different types of childhood schizophrenia were demarcated from one another primarily on age of onset and the type of psychosis which was believed to be present. I will outline how various child psychiatrists viewed the types of childhood schizophrenia posited by other child psychiatrists. I will outline the process of abandoning childhood schizophrenia. I use my history to challenge what I believe are misconceptions about childhood schizophrenia. Also, I will use my history to draw lessons for thinking about modern notions of autism. It shows potential problems around formulating psychiatric diagnoses around causes and how compromises might be needed to prevent those problems. Additionally, childhood schizophrenia shows that psychiatrists could formulate subtypes that are not based upon functioning levels and that we can conceive of subtypes as dynamic whereby someone can change which subtype they exhibit over time.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 19 Sep 2026 01:01.

Cited references
90
With a DOI
69
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
17
4 / 90 (4.4%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
19 / 90 (21.1%)
References with detected author names
80 / 90 (88.9%)
Without detected author names
10
Without a structured title
17
Without a stable identifier
17
References with raw author names still to review
8
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
112
From DOI or external metadata
112
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
12
17 / 112 (15.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 95 / 112 (84.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
4 / 112 (3.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 4 / 17 (23.5%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 1 / 87 (1.1%).
  1. Maureen A. O’Malley , Karola Stotz (2011). Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine .
    Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W23310486
    OpenAlex
  2. Harvey R. Alderton (1966). A Review of Schizophrenia in Childhood . Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, 11(4), 276-285. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  3. Valentina Petrolini , Agustín Vicente (2022). The challenges raised by comorbidity in psychiatric research: The case of autism . Philosophical Psychology, 35(8), 1234-1263. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  4. Margaret S. Mahler (1965). ON EARLY INFANTILE PSYCHOSIS . Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 4(4), 554-568. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  5. N. C. Andreasen (1989). The American Concept of Schizophrenia . Schizophrenia Bulletin, 15(4), 519-531. Oxford University Press (OUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  6. Lauretta Bender (1959). The concept of pseudopsychopathic schizophrenia in adolescents. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 29(3), 491-512. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  7. Peter Zachar (2014). A Metaphysics of Psychopathology . The MIT Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  8. APA. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd edn.). American Psychiatric Association.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  9. Lauretta Bender (1953). Childhood schizophrenia . The Psychiatric Quarterly, 27(1-4), 663-681. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  10. Michael Rutter (1972). Childhood schizophrenia reconsidered . Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 2(3), 315-337. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  11. Lauretta Bender (1947). Childhood schizophrenia: Clinical study of one hundred schizophrenic children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 17(1), 40-56. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  12. Leo Kanner (1965). Infantile autism and the schizophrenias . Behavioral Science, 10(4), 412-420. Wiley.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  13. Sam Fellowes *Autistic author. Learn more… (2017). Putting the Present in the History of Autism . Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 61, 54-58. Elsevier BV.
    AutiHub · Autistic Autism Scholarship Project Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  14. Milada Havelkova (1968). Follow-up study of 71 children diagnosed as psychotic in preschool age. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 38(5), 846-857. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  15. Lauretta Bender (1956). Childhood schizophrenia: Symposium, 1955: 2. Schizophrenia in childhood—Its recognition, description and treatment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 26(3), 499-506. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  16. Howard W. Potter (1933). SCHIZOPHRENIA IN CHILDREN . American Journal of Psychiatry, 89(6), 1253-1270. American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  17. S. A. Szurek (1956). Childhood schizophrenia: Symposium, 1955: 4. Psychotic episodes and psychotic maldevelopment. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 26(3), 519-543. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  18. Elisabeth L. Hill , Uta Frith (2003). Understanding autism: insights from mind and brain . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 358(1430), 281-289. The Royal Society.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  19. Donna M. Kite , Judith Gullifer , Graham A. Tyson (2013). Views on the Diagnostic Labels of Autism and Asperger’s Disorder and the Proposed Changes in the DSM . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(7), 1692-1700. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  20. L Bender (1959). Bender, L. (1959b). Autism in children with mental deficiency. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 64(1), 81–86. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 64(1), 81.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  21. Chloe Silverman (2011). Understanding Autism . Princeton University Press.
    OpenCitations
  22. Mical Raz (2014). Deprived of touch . History of the Human Sciences, 27(2), 75-96. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  23. L Bender (1970). Bender, L. (1970). The life course of schizophrenic children. Biological Psychiatry, 2, 165–172. Biological Psychiatry, 2, 165.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  24. Lauretta Bender , Alvin Eldridge Grugett (1956). A study of certain epidemiological factors in a group of children with childhood schizophrenia. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 26(1), 131-145. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  25. J. Franklin Robinson (1961). The psychoses of early childhood. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 31(3), 536-550. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  26. BARBARA FISH , THEODORE SHAPIRO , MAGDA CAMPBELL , RENEE WILE (1968). A Classification of Schizophrenic Children Under Five Years . American Journal of Psychiatry, 124(10), 1415-1423. American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  27. Bradley, C. (1941). Schizophrenia in childhood. The Macmillian company.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  28. Eric Schopler (1978). On confusion in the diagnosis of autism . Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 8(2), 137-138. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  29. Leo Kanner (1949). Problems of nosology and psychodynamics of early infantile autism. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 19(3), 416-426. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  30. Cushing, S. (2013). Autism: The very idea. In J. Anderson, & S. Cushing (Eds.), The philosophy of autism (pp. 17–46). Rowman & Littlefield.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  31. J. Louise Despert (1941). Thinking and motility disorder in a schizophrenic child . The Psychiatric Quarterly, 15(3), 522-536. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    OpenAlex
  32. B Cuthbert (2013). Cuthbert, B., & Insel, T. (2013). Towards the future of psychiatric diagnosis: The seven pillars of RDoC. BMC Medicine, 11(126), 1–8. BMC Medicine, 11(126), 1.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  33. ELI ROBINS , SAMUEL B. GUZE (1970). Establishment of Diagnostic Validity in Psychiatric Illness: Its Application to Schizophrenia . American Journal of Psychiatry, 126(7), 983-987. American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  34. Hanne De Jaegher (2020). Seeing and inviting participation in autistic interactions . Center for Open Science.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  35. Rachel Hershenberg , Marvin R. Goldfried (2015). Implications of RDoC for the Research and Practice of Psychotherapy . Behavior Therapy, 46(2), 156-165. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  36. Edward M. Ornitz (1968). Perceptual Inconstancy in Early Infantile Autism . Archives of General Psychiatry, 18(1), 76. American Medical Association (AMA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  37. J. Louise Despert (1938). Schizophrenia in children . The Psychiatric Quarterly, 12(2), 366-371. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  38. Leo Kanner (1971). Childhood psychosis: A historical overview . Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 1(1), 14-19. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  39. Barbara Fish , Theodore Shapiro (1965). A TYPOLOGY OF CHILDREN'S PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS I. ITS APPLICATION TO A CONTROLLED EVALUATION OF TREATMENT . Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 4(1), 32-52. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  40. LJ Despert (1941). Despert, L. J. (1941). Thinking and motility disorder in a schizophrenic child. Clinical Psychiatry, 15, 522–536. Clinical Psychiatry, 15, 522.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  41. Pat Walsh , Mayada Elsabbagh , Patrick Bolton , Ilina Singh (2011). In search of biomarkers for autism: scientific, social and ethical challenges . Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 12(10), 603-612. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1038/nrn3113 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2087640603
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  42. Leo Kanner (1959). The Thirty-Third Maudsley Lecture: Trends in Child-Psychiatry . Journal of Mental Science, 105(440), 581-593. Royal College of Psychiatrists.
    OpenAlex
  43. Despert, L. J. (1965). Schizophrenia in children. Bunner/Mazel.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  44. Joel Krueger (2021). Finding (and losing) one’s way: autism, social impairments, and the politics of space . Phenomenology & Mind, 21, 20. Lexis srl.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  45. Louise Eaton , Frank J. Menolascino (1967). Psychotic reactions of childhood: A follow-up study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 37(3), 521-529. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  46. Sam Fellowes *Autistic author. Learn more… (2021). Scientific Perspectivism and psychiatric diagnoses: respecting history and constraining relativism . European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 11(1), 8. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    AutiHub · Autistic Autism Scholarship Project Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  47. Aaron H. Esman (1960). Childhood psychosis and "childhood schizophrenia". American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 30(2), 391-396. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  48. Michael Rutter (1978). Diagnosis and definition of childhood autism . Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 8(2), 139-161. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    OpenAlex
  49. Bonnie Evans (2017). The metamorphosis of autism . Manchester University Press.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  50. Gricel Orellana , Andrea Slachevsky (2013). Executive Functioning in Schizophrenia . Frontiers in Psychiatry, 4, 35-35. Frontiers Media SA.
    OpenAlex
  51. Eyal, G., Hart, B., Onculer, E., Oren, N., & Rossi, N. (2010). The autism matrix. Polity.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  52. Beata Rank (1949). Adaptation of the psychoanalytic technique for the treatment of young children with atypical development. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 19(1), 130-139. American Psychological Association (APA).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  53. Candida Peterson (2016). Empathy and Theory of Mind in Deaf and Hearing Children . Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 21(2), 141-147. Oxford University Press (OUP).
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  54. I Kolvin (1972). Late onset psychosis. BMJ, 3(5830), 816-817. BMJ.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  55. Francesca Happé , Uta Frith (2006). The Weak Coherence Account: Detail-focused Cognitive Style in Autism Spectrum Disorders . Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(1), 5-25. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  56. Elwyn M. Smolen (1965). SOME THOUGHTS ON SCHIZOPHRENIA IN CHILDHOOD . Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 4(3), 443-472. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  57. Sam Fellowes *Autistic author. Learn more… (2022). The Value of Categorical Polythetic Diagnoses in Psychiatry . The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 73(4), 941-963. University of Chicago Press.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1086/714801 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3021320620
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  58. Francesca Happé , Angelica Ronald (2008). The ‘Fractionable Autism Triad’: A Review of Evidence from Behavioural, Genetic, Cognitive and Neural Research . Neuropsychology Review, 18(4), 287-304. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  59. Berend Verhoeff (2013). Autism in flux: a history of the concept from Leo Kanner to DSM-5 . History of Psychiatry, 24(4), 442-458. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  60. Leo Kanner , Leonard I. Lesser (1958). Early Infantile Autism . Pediatric Clinics of North America, 5(3), 711-730. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  61. Hassall, R. (2016). Does everybody with an autism diagnosis have the same underlying condition. In K. Runswick-Cole, R. Mallett, & S. Timini (Eds.), Re-thinking autism (pp. 49–66). Jessica Kingsley Publishing.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  62. Petteri Pietikainen (2015). Madness . Routledge.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  63. Mirjam Sprong , Patricia Schothorst , Ellen Vos , Joop Hox , Herman Van Engeland (2007). Theory of mind in schizophrenia . British Journal of Psychiatry, 191(1), 5-13. Royal College of Psychiatrists.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  64. Sami Timimi , Neil Gardner , Brian McCabe (2010). The Myth of Autism . Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  65. Alison Singer , Amy Lutz , Jill Escher , Alycia Halladay (2023). A full semantic toolbox is essential for autism research and practice to thrive . Autism Research, 16(3), 497-501. Wiley.
    Type: Article DOI: 10.1002/aur.2876 OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W4311202441
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  66. Kurt Jacobsen (2010). Diagnostic politics: the curious case of Kanner’s syndrome . History of Psychiatry, 21(4), 436-454. SAGE Publications.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  67. Leo Kanner (1935). Child psychiatry. Charles C Thomas Publisher, Ltd..
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  68. L Kanner (1943). Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbance of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2, 217–250. Nervous Child, 2(3), 217.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  69. Kanner, L. (1948). Child psychiatry (2nd edn.). Charles C. Thomas.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  70. Gnanathusharan Rajendran , Peter Mitchell (2007). Cognitive theories of autism . Developmental Review, 27(2), 224-260. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  71. L Kanner (1959). Kanner, L. (1959). The thirty-third Maudsley lecture: Trends in child-psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 105, 581–593. British Journal of Psychiatry, 105, 581.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  72. Bruce N Cuthbert , Thomas R Insel (2013). Toward the future of psychiatric diagnosis: the seven pillars of RDoC . BMC Medicine, 11(1), 126-126. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    OpenAlex
  73. Berend Verhoeff (2013). The autism puzzle: challenging a mechanistic model on conceptual and historical grounds . Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 8(1), 17. Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
    OpenAlex
  74. Daniel A. Weiskopf (2017). An ideal disorder? Autism as a psychiatric kind . Philosophical Explorations, 20(2), 175-190. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  75. L Bender (1970). The life course of schizophrenic children. PubMed, 2(2), 165-72.
    Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2413057136
    OpenAlex
  76. L BENDER (1959). Autism in children with mental deficiency. PubMed, 64(1), 81-6.
    Type: Article OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W2416446792
    OpenAlex
  77. Margaret Schoenberger Mahler (1952). On Child Psychosis and Schizophrenia . The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 7(1), 286-305. Informa UK Limited.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  78. Vicedo, M. (2021). Intelligent love: The story of Clara Park, her autistic daughter, and the myth of the refrigerator mother. Beacon Press.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  79. Vijay A. Mittal , Lauren S. Wakschlag (2017). Research domain criteria (RDoC) grows up: Strengthening neurodevelopment investigation within the RDoC framework . Journal of Affective Disorders, 216, 30-35. Elsevier BV.
    Crossref OpenAlex OpenCitations
  80. G Orellana (2013). Orellana, G., & Slachevsky, A. (2013). Executive functioning in schizophrenia. Frontiers of Psychiatry, 4(35), 1–15. Frontiers of Psychiatry, 4(35), 1.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  81. Marga Vicedo (2021). Intelligent Love: The Story of Clara Park, Her Autistic Daughter, and the Myth of the Refrigerator Mother .
    Type: Book OpenAlex: https://openalex.org/W3190310650
    OpenAlex
  82. Hanne De Jaegher (2023). Seeing and inviting participation in autistic interactions . Transcultural Psychiatry, 60(5), 852-865. SAGE Publications.
    OpenAlex
  83. Kathy Kennedy Engle (1980). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, SchoplerEric, Editor. Plenum Publishing Corporation, 227 West 17th Street, New York, NY 10011, 138 pp, (1979), $49.00. Published quarterly ($25.00 individual subscribers only). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 34(4), 284-284. SAGE Publications.
    OpenAlex
  84. M Rutter (1978). Rutter, M. (1978). Diagnosis and definition of childhood autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 8(2), 193–161. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 8(2), 193.
    Type: Other
    Crossref
  85. Chloe Silverman (2011). Understanding Autism . Princeton University Press.
    Crossref
  86. Chloe Silverman (2011). Understanding Autism . Princeton University Press.
    OpenAlex
  87. (1996). Biological Psychiatry . Psychiatric Bulletin, 20(11), 704-704. Royal College of Psychiatrists.
    OpenAlex
  88. (2005). The British Journal of Psychiatry . British Journal of Psychiatry, 186(2), A4-A4. Royal College of Psychiatrists.
    OpenAlex
  89. B Verhoeff (2013). Verhoeff, B. (2013a). The autism puzzle: Challenging a mechanistic model on conceptual and historical grounds. Philosophy Ethics and Humanities in Medicine, 8(17), 1–10. Philosophy Ethics and Humanities in Medicine, 8(17), 1.
    Type: Other
    Crossref