Conjectures concerning Schizophrenia

Editorial note: This chapter came to be written under different circumstances than the other chapters, as it is a slightly modified version of a personal letter from Professor Meehl to myself. Meehl was writing in response to an invited commentary that I had written for the Journal of Personality Disorders, concerning Meehl’s (1990c) important theory paper in that journal. My commentary expressed the wish that Meehl would spell out the origins of his conjectures concerning the nature of schizophrenia. In this letter, Meehl both gives the origins of several of the conjectures in his theory paper and also explains why he does not always give such information. Happily, Professor Meehl accepted my invitation to publish his letter. —Loren Chapman