Sluggishly progressing schizophrenia was a fifth (as opposed to the four recognised in the West) category of schizophrenia diagnosed by psychiatrists in the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RFSFR). It was commonly alleged in the West that this diagnosis was often applied to dissidents who were not in fact mentally ill.
The existence of this diagnosis has lead to questions on the part of supporters of anti-psychiatry about the existence of schizophrenia in general, whether it is diagonsed properly, and about political misuses of the schizophrenia diagnosis in the West.
