Schizophrenia is on the rise! According to new research by the Stanley Medical Institute mental illness has morphed into the 'invisible plague'. I have noted before that the words 'science' and 'schizophrenia' come from the same etymological routes – a mind fractured and split into pieces. Are we really turning slowly into a generation of mad scientists, a generation of Victor Frankensteins? Is scientific development proportional to rates of insanity? This is a rhetorical question as specific psychiatric illnesses are notoriously difficult to quantify. One such study however by ECA (Epidemiologic Catchment Area) suggests that schizophrenia has indeed become an epidemic effecting four million Americans (this is four times as many as HIV). This figure has increased ten fold over the last century and is still increasing. Calculations of this exact increase is complexified further by an estimation that 15% of those effected commit suicide. What indeed has information overload done to us?

http://www.schizophrenia.com/newsletter/allnews/2002/disordersincrease.htm