ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part provides findings that are surprising in the light of conventional views of psychiatry. It suggests that schizophrenics fare about as well after hospital treatment as do patients with affective disorder, although it is generally thought that schizophrenics remain chronically ill, whereas patients with manic–depressive disease remit. The part argues that cross-sectional studies confound effects of historical changes in women’s status with the effects of aging. The occupational histories of schizophrenic married men were found to be more stable than those of the men married to schizophrenic women. Although this comparison has not been made before, the unstable careers of the husbands of schizophrenics is compatible with the findings of D. Rosenthal that antisocial personality is common in the spouses of schizophrenic women. A high proportion of antisocial personalities among these husbands would explain their lack of occupational success, even relative to schizophrenics.
