when was schizophrenia discovered

Schizophrenia was first formally described as a distinct mental illness by Dr. Emil Kraepelin in the late 19th century, around the 1880s to 1890s. He used the term "dementia praecox" to describe this condition, which he considered a form of early dementia with a progressively worsening course. Later, in 1908, the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler coined the term "schizophrenia" to better describe the disorder, emphasizing the splitting of different mental functions rather than dementia. Bleuler's work, published in 1911, helped establish the modern understanding of schizophrenia as a distinct mental disorder.