Abstract. Hebephrenia is characterized by specific symptomatology – blunted or incongruous affect, characteristic smile, bizarre and disorganized behavior, thought disorders. Тhe diagnosis is made in young adults and it predetermines unfavorable outcome with fastly progressing negative symptoms. The described clinical characteristics are mainly based on texts with historical significance – from the concept formation by Kahlbaum, throughout Kraepelin’s and Leonhard’s ideas to the current classification ICD-10 and DSM-5. The future abolishment of schizophrenic subtypes, and in particular the removal of the hebephrenic subtype (disorganized schizophrenia) from contemporary diagnostic categories may lead to the loss of a valuable psychopathological construct with implications for differential diagnosis and therapeutic behavior.

Key words: hebephrenia, schizophrenic subtypes, historical overview, diagnostic categories

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