Choosing Terminology

We psychiatrists should use terms or ideas that are more descriptive so that our communications with each other and with the general public are more clearly understood. In 1970 I wrote that the term “guilty by reason of insanity” is more appropriate and realistic than the term “not guilty by reason insanity.” In 1976 I wrote that “perpetrators of capital crime often have not been habilitated, so that rehabilitation for this group of criminals is highly improbable or impossible.” I now suggest that a more appropriate term for some mothers (or fathers, boyfriends, or other surrogates) who harm a young child could be “postpartum aggression” rather than “postpartum depression.”