Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A type of schizophrenia characterized by disorganized speech and behavior, flat or inappropriate affect, and sometimes silly or inappropriate mannerisms.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A form of insanity incident to the age of puberty.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A type of mental disorder occurring during puberty.
  • noun A form of schizophrenia characterised by inappropriate behaviour and emotional responses.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a form of schizophrenia characterized by severe disintegration of personality including erratic speech and childish mannerisms and bizarre behavior; usually becomes evident during puberty; the most common diagnostic category in mental institutions

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek hēbē, youth (because the onset of the disorder typically occurs in adolescence or young adulthood) + –phrenia.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ἥβη ("youthful beauty") (also Ἥβη ("the goddess Hebe")) + φρήν ("mind").

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Examples

  • His more debilitating behavior, which they called hebephrenia—characterized by delusions and inappropriate laughing—probably would not respond to brain surgery, they said, whereas the operation might be more effective in treating his obsessive-compulsive behavior.

    Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010

  • His more debilitating behavior, which they called hebephrenia—characterized by delusions and inappropriate laughing—probably would not respond to brain surgery, they said, whereas the operation might be more effective in treating his obsessive-compulsive behavior.

    Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010

  • His more debilitating behavior, which they called hebephrenia—characterized by delusions and inappropriate laughing—probably would not respond to brain surgery, they said, whereas the operation might be more effective in treating his obsessive-compulsive behavior.

    Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010

  • His more debilitating behavior, which they called hebephrenia—characterized by delusions and inappropriate laughing—probably would not respond to brain surgery, they said, whereas the operation might be more effective in treating his obsessive-compulsive behavior.

    Into the Story DAVID MARANISS 2010

  • Criteria for subtyping schizophrenia: Clinical differentia tion of hebephrenia and paranoid schizophrenia.

    The Neuropsychiatric Guide to Modern Everyday Psychiatry Michael Alan Taylor 1993

  • The earlier literature used paranoid versus nonparanoid (e.g., hebephrenia) (1003) to characterize this dichotomy, whereas the modern literature often refers to it as positive-symptom versus negative-symptom schizophrenia (51).

    The Neuropsychiatric Guide to Modern Everyday Psychiatry Michael Alan Taylor 1993

  • Here they show nothing characteristic of the well-known dementing processes, as hebephrenia, for example; but very frequently, although quite young, their entire manner and behavior suggest a certain dilapidation and deterioration.

    Studies in Forensic Psychiatry Bernard Glueck

  • "Most of the cases charged to masturbation," writes Kiernan (in a private letter), basing his opinion on wide clinical experience, "are either hebephrenia or hysteria in which an effect is taken for the cause."

    Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1 The Evolution of Modesty; The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity; Auto-Erotism Havelock Ellis 1899

  • Let us recall also the mental troubles, the psychoses designated by the name hebephrenia.

    Essai sur l'imagination créatrice. English Albert Heyem Nachmen Baron 1877

  • Earlier in 1871, Ewald Hecker, another German psychiatrist, described hebephrenia, a classification that continues to this day as the disorganized schizophrenia subtype.

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2009

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