All Topics  
Psychiatry

 

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link






 

Psychiatry



 
 


Psychiatry is a medical
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
 specialty
Specialty (medicine)

A specialty in medicine is a branch of medical science. After completing medical school, physicians or surgeons usually further their medical education in a specific specialty of medicine by completing a multiple year residency ....
 devoted to the treatment, study
Biomedical research

Biomedical research , in general simply known as medical research, is the basic research, applied research, or translational research conducted to aid the body of knowledge in the field of medicine....
 and prevention
Prevention (medical)

In medicine, prevention is any activity which reduces the burden of mortality or morbidity from disease. This takes place at primary, secondary and tertiary prevention levels....
 of mental disorder. The term was first coined by the German physician
Physician

A physician, medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, or medical doctor practices medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and injury....
 Johann Christian Reil
Johann Christian Reil

Johann Christian Reil was a Germans physician, physiologist, anatomist and psychiatrist. He coined the term the term psychiatry or, in German, psychiatrie in 1808....
 in 1808.

Psychiatric assessment typically involves a mental status examination
Mental status examination

The mental status examination abbreviated MSE, is an important part of the clinical Psychiatric assessment process in psychiatric practice....
 and the taking of a case history; and psychological tests may be conducted.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Psychiatry'
Start a new discussion about 'Psychiatry'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Quotations


After all, Jews invented psychiatry to help other Jews become Gentiles.

Morton Feldman, composer

Anyone who need psychiatry is sick in the head.

Frank Burns, fictional character from television series MASH

I don't have an act, I'm a psychiatrist.

Frasier Crane, fictional character from television series Frasier Category:Health

You don't know the history of psychiatry, I do.

Tom Cruise, actor





Encyclopedia


Mri Head Side


Psychiatry is a medical
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
 specialty
Specialty (medicine)

A specialty in medicine is a branch of medical science. After completing medical school, physicians or surgeons usually further their medical education in a specific specialty of medicine by completing a multiple year residency ....
 devoted to the treatment, study
Biomedical research

Biomedical research , in general simply known as medical research, is the basic research, applied research, or translational research conducted to aid the body of knowledge in the field of medicine....
 and prevention
Prevention (medical)

In medicine, prevention is any activity which reduces the burden of mortality or morbidity from disease. This takes place at primary, secondary and tertiary prevention levels....
 of mental disorder. The term was first coined by the German physician
Physician

A physician, medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, or medical doctor practices medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and injury....
 Johann Christian Reil
Johann Christian Reil

Johann Christian Reil was a Germans physician, physiologist, anatomist and psychiatrist. He coined the term the term psychiatry or, in German, psychiatrie in 1808....
 in 1808.

Psychiatric assessment typically involves a mental status examination
Mental status examination

The mental status examination abbreviated MSE, is an important part of the clinical Psychiatric assessment process in psychiatric practice....
 and the taking of a case history; and psychological tests may be conducted. Physical examinations may be carried out and on occasion neuroimages
Neuroimaging

Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly imaging the neuroanatomy, function/pharmacology of the brain....
 or other neurophysiological
Neurophysiology

Neurophysiology is a part of physiology. Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system function. Primarily, it is connected with neurobiology, psychology, neurology, clinical neurophysiology, electrophysiology, ethology, neuroanatomy, cognitive science and other brain sciences....
 measurements taken. Diagnostic procedures vary. Official criteria are listed in manuals, the most widely available being the ICD
ICD

The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings,...
 from the World Health Organization
World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health....
 and the DSM
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides diagnostic criteria for classification of mental disorders....
 from the American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association

The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential world-wide....
.

Psychiatric medication
Psychiatric medication

A psychiatric medication is a licenced psychoactive drug taken to exert an effect on the mental state and used to treat mental disorders. Usually prescribed in psychiatry settings, these medications are typically made of Chemical synthesis chemical compounds, although some are naturally occurring....
 is currently a central option, often in conjunction with one of the many varieties of psychotherapy
Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a wiktionary:Client in problems of living. It aims to increase the individual's sense of health and reduce their subjective sense of discomfort....
. In extremis, currently less favored techniques such as electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy , also known as electroshock, is a well established, albeit controversial psychiatry treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect....
 may be used. Treatment is available on an inpatient or outpatient basis. With the necessary legal sanction, this may be applied involuntarily. Research and the clinical application of psychiatry are conducted on an interdisciplinary basis involving various sub-specialties and theoretical approaches.

In the West, treatment of emotional
Emotion

An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behavior.Emotions are subjective experiences, or experienced from an individual point of view....
 and cognitive
Cognition

Cognition is the science term for "the process of thought."Its usage varies in different ways in accord with different disciplines: For example, in psychology and cognitive science it refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological Functionalism s....
 disfunction may be said to have its origins at least as far back as the 5th century BC. The first hospices for the mentally ill appeared in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
. The early 19th century saw the development of psychiatry as a recognized field. Mental health institutions came to utilize more elaborate and, over the course of time, more humane treatment methods. The 19th century saw a huge increase in the number of patients.

The 20th century saw an upsurge of biological understanding of mental disorders, as well as the introduction of more systematic disease classification, and the advent of sophisticated psychiatric medication. An anti-psychiatry
Anti-psychiatry

See also: Biopsychiatry controversyAnti-psychiatry usually refers to a movement that emerged in the 1960s hostile to most of the fundamental assumptions and common practices of psychiatry....
 movement, hostile to most of the fundamental assumptions and practices of the discipline, emerged in the 1960s. A shift in emphasis in several Western societies led to the dismantling of state psychiatric hospitals in favor of more community-based treatment.

Theory and focus

"Psychiatry, more than any other branch of medicine, forces its practitioners to wrestle with the nature of evidence, the validity of introspection, problems in communication, and other long-standing philosophical issues" (Guze, 1992, p.4
Psychiatry

Psychiatry is a Medicine Specialty devoted to the Treatment of mental disorders, Biomedical research and Prevention of mental disorder. The term was first coined by the German physician Johann Christian Reil in 1808....
).


The term psychiatry (????at????), coined by Johann Christian Reil
Johann Christian Reil

Johann Christian Reil was a Germans physician, physiologist, anatomist and psychiatrist. He coined the term the term psychiatry or, in German, psychiatrie in 1808....
 in 1808, comes from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 “????” (soul or mind) and “?at???" (healer or doctor). It refers to a field of medicine focused specifically on the mind, aiming to study
Biomedical research

Biomedical research , in general simply known as medical research, is the basic research, applied research, or translational research conducted to aid the body of knowledge in the field of medicine....
, prevent
Prevention (medical)

In medicine, prevention is any activity which reduces the burden of mortality or morbidity from disease. This takes place at primary, secondary and tertiary prevention levels....
, and treat mental disorders in human
Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
s. It has been described as an intermediary between the world from a social context and the world from the perspective of those who are mentally ill.

Those who practice psychiatry are different than most other mental health professional
Mental health professional

A mental health professional is a person who offers services for the purpose of improving an individual's mental health or to treat mental illness....
s and physician
Physician

A physician, medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, or medical doctor practices medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and injury....
s in that they must be familiar with both the social
Social sciences

The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including anthropology, communication studies, economics, human geography, history, political science, psychology and sociology....
 and biological sciences
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
. The discipline is interested in the operations of different organs and body systems as classified by the patient's subjective experiences and the objective physiology of the patient. Psychiatry exists to treat mental disorders which are conventionally divided into three very general categories; mental illness
Mental illness

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture....
, severe learning disability, and personality disorder
Personality disorder

Personality disorders, formerly referred to as character disorders, are a class of Personality psychology styles which deviate from the contemporary expectations of a society....
. While the focus of psychiatry has changed little throughout time, the diagnostic and treatment processes have evolved dramatically and continue to do so. Since the late 20th century, the field of psychiatry has continued to become more biological and less conceptually isolated from the field of medicine.

Scope of practice

While the medical specialty of psychiatry utilizes research in the field of neuroscience
Neuroscience

Neuroscience is a field devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. The Society for Neuroscience was founded in 1969, but the study of the brain started a long time ago....
, psychology
Psychology

Psychology is an academic and applied science discipline involving the science study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally it also relies on symbolic hermeneutics and critical theory, although these traditions are less pronounced than in other social sciences such as sociology....
, medicine
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, biology
Biology

Biology is a branch of the natural sciences concerned with the study of living organisms and their interaction with each other and their environment ....
, biochemistry
Biochemistry

Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
, and pharmacology
Pharmacology

Pharmacology is the study of drug action. More specifically it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and exogenous chemicals that alter normal biochemical function....
, it has generally been considered a middle ground between neurology
Neurology

Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the Central nervous system, Peripheral nervous system, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and...
 and psychology. Unlike other physicians and neurologists, psychiatrists specialize in the doctor-patient relationship
Doctor-patient relationship

The physician-patient relationship is central to the practice of medicine and is essential for the delivery of high-quality health care in the diagnosis and treatment of disease....
 and are trained to varying extents in the use of psychotherapy and other therepautic communication techniques. Psychiatrists also differ from psychologists in that they are physicians and the entirety of their post-graduate training
Medical school

A medical school is a tertiary educational institution?or part of such an institution?that teaches medicine.In addition to a medical degree program, some medical schools offer programs leading to a Master's Degree, Doctor of Philosophy , or other post-secondary education....
 is revolved around the field of medicine. Psychiatrists can therefore counsel patients, prescribe medication, order laboratory test
Medical laboratory

A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are done on clinical specimens in order to get information about the health of a patient....
s, utilize neuroimaging
Neuroimaging

Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly imaging the neuroanatomy, function/pharmacology of the brain....
 in a research setting, and conduct physical examination
Physical examination

File:Reeve 978.jpgPhysical examination or clinical examination is the process by which a health care provider investigates the body of a patient for sign of disease....
s.

Ethics

Like other professions
Professional ethics

Professional ethics concerns the moral issues that arise because of the specialist knowledge that professionals attain, and how the use of this knowledge should be governed when providing a service to the public....
, the World Psychiatric Association
World Psychiatric Association

The World Psychiatric Association is an international umbrella organisation of psychiatric societies. Originally created to produce world psychiatric congresses, it has evolved to hold regional meetings, to promote professional education and to set ethical, scientific and treatment standards for psychiatry....
 issues an ethical code
Ethical code

In the context of a code that is adopted by a profession or by a governmental or quasi-governmental organ to regulate that profession, an ethical code may be styled as a professional responsibility, which may dispense with difficult issues of what behavior is "ethical"....
 to govern the conduct of psychiatrists. The psychiatric code of ethics, first set forth through the Declaration of Hawaii
Hawaii

File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
 in 1977, has been expanded through a 1983 Vienna update and, in 1996, the broader Madrid Declaration. The code was further revised in Hamburg, 1999. The World Psychiatric Association code covers such matters as patient assessment, up-to-date knowledge, the human dignity of incapacitated patients, confidentiality
Confidentiality

Confidentiality has been defined by the International Organization for Standardization as "ensuring that information is accessible only to those authorized to have access" and is one of the cornerstones of information security....
, research ethics, sex selection, euthanasia
Euthanasia

Euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner. Many different forms of euthanasia can be distinguished, including euthanasia and human euthanasia, and within the latter, voluntary and involuntary euthanasia....
, organ transplantation, torture
Torture

Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is:In addition to state-sponsored torture, individuals or groups may be motivated to inflict torture on others for similar reasons to those of a state; however, the motive for torture can also be for the sadism gratification of the torturer, as was the case in the Moors M...
, the death penalty, media relations, genetics, and ethnic or cultural discrimination. In establishing such ethical codes, the profession has responded to a number of controversies about the practice of psychiatry.

Subspecialties

Various subspecialties and/or theoretical approaches exist which are related to the field of psychiatry. They include the following:
  • Biological psychiatry
    Biological psychiatry

    Biological psychiatry, or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biology function of the nervous system....
    ; an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system.
  • Child and adolescent psychiatry
    Child and adolescent psychiatry

    The branch of psychiatry that specializes in the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of psychopathological disorders of children, adolescents, and their families....
    ; a branch of psychiatry that specialises in work with children, teenagers, and their families.
  • Community psychiatry; an approach that reflects an inclusive public health
    Public health

    Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis....
     perspective and is practiced in community mental health services.
  • Cross-cultural psychiatry
    Cross-cultural psychiatry

    Cross-cultural psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry concerned with the cultural and ethnic context of mental disorder and psychiatric services. It emerged as a coherent field from several strands of work, including surveys of the prevalence and form of disorders in different cultures or countries; the study of migrant populations and ethnic d...
    ; a branch of psychiatry concerned with the cultural and ethnic context of mental disorder and psychiatric services.
  • Emergency psychiatry; the clinical application of psychiatry in emergency settings.
  • Forensic psychiatry
    Forensic psychiatry

    Forensic psychiatry is a sub-specialty of psychiatry. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. Some practitioners of forensic psychiatry have taken extra training in that specific area....
    ; the interface between law and psychiatry.
  • Geriatric psychiatry
    Geriatric psychiatry

    Geriatric psychiatry, also known as geropsychiatry, psychogeriatrics or psychiatry of old age, is a subspecialty of psychiatry dealing with the study, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders in humans with old age....
    ; a branch of psychiatry dealing with the study, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders in humans with old age.
  • Liaison psychiatry
    Liaison psychiatry

    Liaison psychiatry, also known as consultative psychiatry or consultation-liaison psychiatry is the branch of psychiatry that specialises in the interface between medicine and psychiatry, usually taking place in a hospital or medical setting....
    ; the branch of psychiatry that specializes in the interface between other medical specialties and psychiatry.
  • Military psychiatry
    Military psychiatry

    Military psychiatry covers special aspects of psychiatry and mental disorders within the military context. The aim of military psychiatry is to keep as many serving personnel as possible fit for duty and to treat those disabled by psychiatric conditions....
    ; covers special aspects of psychiatry and mental disorders within the military context.
  • Neuropsychiatry
    Neuropsychiatry

    Neuropsychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system.It preceded the current disciplines of psychiatry and neurology, in as much as psychiatrists and neurologists had a common training ....
    ; branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system.
  • Social psychiatry
    Social psychiatry

    Social psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the interpersonal and cultural context of mental disorder and mental wellbeing....
    ; a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the interpersonal and cultural context of mental disorder and mental wellbeing.


In the United States, psychiatry is one of the specialties which qualifies for further education and board-certification in sleep medicine
Sleep medicine

Sleep medicine is a medical subspecialty devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of sleep disturbances and sleep disorder. From the middle of the 20th century, research has provided increasing knowledge and answered many questions about sleep-wake functioning....
.

Approaches

Psychiatric illnesses can be approached in a number of different ways. The biomedical approach examines signs and symptoms and compares them with diagnostic criteria. However psychiatric illness can also be assessed through a narrative which tries to understand symptoms as a part of a meaningful life history and as a responses to external conditions. Both approaches are important in the field of psychiatry. A lack of consensus between these often opposing view has contributed in part to the biopsychiatry controversy
Biopsychiatry controversy

Psychiatry can be approached from many different view points. The biopsychiatry controversy is a dispute over which viewpoint should predominate and form the scientific basis of psychiatric theory and practice....
. It has also played a role in controversies over specific psychiatric illness, such as ADHD and Multiple personalities
Multiple personality controversy

The existence of multiple personalities within an individual personality is diagnosed as dissociative identity disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ....
.

Similar to other areas of medicine the Biopsychosocial model
Biopsychosocial model

The biopsychosocial model is a general model or approach that posits that biology, psychology , and social factors all play a significant role in human functioning in the context of disease or illness....
 is often used.

History


Ancient times

Starting in the 5th century BC, mental disorders, especially those with psychotic
Psychosis

Psychosis , with adjective psychotic, literally means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatry term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"....
 traits, were considered supernatural
Supernatural

The term supernatural or supranatural pertains to an order of existence beyond the scientifically visible universe. Religious miracles are typically supernatural claims, as are Spell and curses, divination, the belief that there is an afterlife for the dead, and innumerable others....
 in origin. This view existed throughout ancient Greece
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 and Rome
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
. Early manuals written about mental disorders were created by the Greeks. In 4th century BC, Hippocrates
Hippocrates

Hippocrates of Cos II or Hippokrates of Kos - ancient Greek: ; Hippokr?tes was an Ancient Greece physician of the Age of Pericles, and was considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine....
 theorized that physiological abnormalities may be the root of mental disorders. However further explorations of this perspective ceased shortly thereafter following the fall of the Roman Empire
Decline of the Roman Empire

The English historian Edward Gibbon, author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire made this concept part of the framework of the English language, but he was neither the first nor the last to speculate on why and when the Empire collapsed....
. Religious leaders and others returned to using early versions of exorcism
Exorcism

Exorcism is the practice of evicting demons or other evil spiritual being from a person or place which they are believed to have Spiritual possession....
s to treat mental disorders which often utilized cruel, harsh, and other barbarous methods.

Middle Ages


The first psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital

A psychiatric hospital is a hospital specializing in the treatment of serious mental illness, usually for relatively long-term inpatients.Two rules usually govern whether someone should be placed in a psychiatric hospital: if someone is an immediate threat to harm themselves, or to harm other people....
s were built in the medieval Islamic world
Islamic Golden Age

The Islamic Golden Age, also sometimes known as the Islamic Renaissance, was traditionally dated from the 700 A.D. to 1200 A.D.Common Era, but has been extended to the 15th and 16th centuries by some scholars....
 from the 8th century. The first was built in Baghdad
Baghdad

Baghdad is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous. With a municipal population estimated at 6.5 million, it is the largest city in Iraq, and the second largest city in the Arab World....
 in 705, followed by Fes
FES

Fes may refer to:* Fes, Morocco, also known as Fez, a city in Morocco* Persona 3 FES, an 'add-on' disk for Shin Megami Tensei:Persona 3.FES is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:...
 in the early 8th century, and Cairo
Cairo

Cairo , which means "the triumphant", is the Cairo and largest city of Egypt.It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world....
 in 800. Unlike medieval Christian physicians who relied on demonological explanations
Demonic possession

Demonic possession is often the term used to describe the control over a human form by Satan himself or one of his assigned advocates. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include: erased memories or personalities, convulsions, ?fits? and fainting as if one were dying....
 for mental illness, medieval Muslim physicians
Islamic medicine

In the history of medicine, Islamic medicine or Arabic medicine refers to medicine developed in the Islamic Golden Age and written in Arabic language, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization....
 relied mostly on clinical observations
Clinical psychology

Clinical psychology includes the scientific study and application of psychology for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or Mental illness and to promote subjective Mental health and personal development....
. They made significant advances to psychiatry and were the first to provide psychotherapy
Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a wiktionary:Client in problems of living. It aims to increase the individual's sense of health and reduce their subjective sense of discomfort....
 and moral treatment
Moral treatment

Moral Treatment was an approach to mental disorder based on humane psychosocial care or moral discipline that emerged in the 18th century and came to the fore for much of the 19th century, deriving partly from psychiatry or psychology and partly from religion or moral concerns....
 for mentally ill patients, in addition to other forms of treatment such as bath
Bathing

Bathing is the immersion of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practiced for hygiene, religion or therapy purposes or as a recreational activity....
s, drug medication
Medication

A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine or medicament, can be loosely defined as any substance intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease....
, music therapy
Music therapy

Music therapy is an interpersonal process in which the therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their health....
 and occupational therapy
Occupational therapy

File:Occupational therapy psychiatric hospital.jpgOccupational Therapy, often abbreviated as "OT", incorporates meaningful and purposeful occupation to enable people with limitations or impairments to participate in everyday life....
. In the 10th century, the Persian
Persian people

Persian identity, at least in terms of language, is traced to the ancient Indo-Iranians , who arrived in parts of Greater Iran circa 2000-1500 BCE....
 physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya Razi (Rhazes) combined psychological
Psychology

Psychology is an academic and applied science discipline involving the science study of human mental functions and behavior. Occasionally it also relies on symbolic hermeneutics and critical theory, although these traditions are less pronounced than in other social sciences such as sociology....
 methods and physiological
Physiology

Physiology is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. Physiology has traditionally been divided between plant physiology and animal and all living things physiology but the principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied....
 explanations to provide treatment to mentally ill patients. His contemporary, the Arab
Arab

An Arab is a person who Identity as such on linguistic or cultural grounds. The plural form, Arabs , refers to the Ethnocultural group at large....
 physician Najab ud-din Muhammad, first described a number of mental illnesses such as agitated depression, neurosis
Neurosis

Neurosis , also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, is a term that refers to any mental imbalance that causes distress, but, unlike a psychosis or some personality disorders, does not prevent or affect rational thought....
, priapism
Priapism

Priapism is a potentially harmful and painful medical condition in which the erection penis does not return to its flaccid state, despite the absence of both physical and psychological stimulation, within four hours....
 and sexual impotence
Erectile dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction is a sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance....
 (Nafkhae Malikholia), psychosis
Psychosis

Psychosis , with adjective psychotic, literally means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatry term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"....
 (Kutrib), and mania
Mania

Mania is a severe medical condition characterized by extremely elevated mood, energy, unusual thought patterns and sometimes psychosis. There are several possible causes for mania including drug abuse and brain tumours, but it is most often associated with bipolar disorder, where episodes of mania may cyclically alternate with episodes of ma...
 (Dual-Kulb).

In the 11th century, another Persian physician Avicenna
Avicenna

, known as Abu Ali Sina Balkhi or Ibn Sina and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian people polymath and the foremost Islamic medicine and Early Islamic philosophy of his time....
 recognized 'physiological psychology
Physiological psychology

Physiological psychology is a subdivision of biological psychology that studies the neural mechanisms of perception and behavior through direct manipulation of the brains of nonhuman animal subjects in controlled experiments....
' in the treatment of illnesses involving emotion
Emotion

An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts, and behavior.Emotions are subjective experiences, or experienced from an individual point of view....
s, and developed a system for associating changes in the pulse
Pulse

In medicine, a person's pulse is the throbbing of their artery. It can be palpated in any place that allows for an artery to be compressed against a bone, such as at the neck , at the wrist , behind the knee , on the inside of the elbow , and near the ankle joint ....
 rate with inner feelings, which is seen as a precursor to the word association
Word Association

Word Association is a common word game involving an exchange of words that are associated together....
 test developed by Carl Jung
Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of Analytical psychology. Jung's approach to psychology has been influential in the field of depth psychology and in counterculture movements across the globe....
 in the 19th century. Avicenna
Avicenna

, known as Abu Ali Sina Balkhi or Ibn Sina and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian people polymath and the foremost Islamic medicine and Early Islamic philosophy of his time....
 was also an early pioneer of neuropsychiatry
Neuropsychiatry

Neuropsychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system.It preceded the current disciplines of psychiatry and neurology, in as much as psychiatrists and neurologists had a common training ....
, and first described a number of neuropsychiatric conditions such as hallucination
Hallucination

A hallucination, in the broadest sense, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus . In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space....
, insomnia
Insomnia

Insomnia is a symptom of a sleep disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling sleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. Insomnia is a symptom, not a stand-alone diagnosis or a disease....
, mania
Mania

Mania is a severe medical condition characterized by extremely elevated mood, energy, unusual thought patterns and sometimes psychosis. There are several possible causes for mania including drug abuse and brain tumours, but it is most often associated with bipolar disorder, where episodes of mania may cyclically alternate with episodes of ma...
, nightmare
Nightmare

A nightmare is a dream which causes a strong unpleasant emotional response from the sleeper, typically fear or horror, being in situations of extreme danger, or the sensations of pain, bad events, falling, drowning or death....
, melancholia
Melancholia

Melancholia , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression , characterized by low levels of enthusiasm and eagerness for activity....
, dementia
Dementia

Dementia is the progressive decline in cognition due to damage or disease in the body beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Although dementia is far more common in the geriatric population, it may occur in any stage of adulthood....
, epilepsy
Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizure s. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain....
, paralysis
Paralysis

Paralysis is the complete loss of muscle function for one or more muscle groups. Paralysis can cause loss of feeling or loss of mobility in the affected area....
, stroke
Stroke

A stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to a disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. According to the National Stroke Association, a "stroke" occurs when a blood clot blocks and artery or a blood vessel breaks, interrupting blood flow to an area of the brain....
, vertigo
Vertigo (medical)

Vertigo is a specific type of dizziness, a major symptom of a balance disorder. It is the sensation of spinning or swaying while the body is actually stationary with respect to the surroundings....
 and tremor
Tremor

Tremor is an unintentional, somewhat rhythmic, muscle movement involving to-and-fro movements of one or more body parts. It is the most common of all involuntary movements and can affect the hands, arms, head, face, vocal cords, trunk, and legs....
.

Psychiatric hospitals were built in medieval Europe
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 from the 13th century to treat mental disorders but were utilized only as custodial institutions and did not provide any type of treatment. Founded in the 13th century, Bethlem Royal Hospital
Bethlem Royal Hospital

The Bethlem Royal Hospital of London is a psychiatric hospital in Beckenham, Kent. Although no longer in its original location and buildings, it is recognised as the world's first and oldest institution to provide care for the mentally ill....
 in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
 is one of the oldest psychiatric hospitals. By 1547 the City of London acquired the hospital and continued its function until 1948.

Early modern period

In 1656, Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV ruled as List of French monarchs and of King of Navarre. He ascended the throne a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume actual personal control of the government until the death of his prime minister , the Italians Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661....
 created a public system of hospitals for those suffering from mental disorders, but as in England, no real treatment was being applied. In 1758 English physician William Battie
William Battie

William Battie , 1 September 1703 or 1704?13 June 1776, was an England physician who published in 1758 the first lengthy book on the treatment of mental illness, A Treatise on Madness, and by extending methods of treatment to the poor as well as the affluent, helped raise psychiatry to a respectable specialty....
 wrote the Treatise on Madness which called for treatments to be utilized in asylums. Thirty years later the new ruling monarch in England, George III
George III of the United Kingdom

George III was Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death....
, was known to be suffering from a mental disorder. Following the King's remission
Remission (medicine)

Remission is the state of absence of disease activity in patients with known chronic illness. It is commonly used to refer to absence of active cancer or inflammatory bowel disease....
 in 1789, mental illness was seen as something which could be treated and cured. By 1792 French physician Philippe Pinel
Philippe Pinel

Philippe Pinel was a French physician who was instrumental in the development of a more humane psychological approach to the custody and care of psychiatric hospital, referred to today as moral treatment....
 introduced humane treatment
Moral treatment

Moral Treatment was an approach to mental disorder based on humane psychosocial care or moral discipline that emerged in the 18th century and came to the fore for much of the 19th century, deriving partly from psychiatry or psychology and partly from religion or moral concerns....
 approaches to those suffering from mental disorders. William Tuke
William Tuke

William Tuke was an England businessman, philanthropist and Quaker. He was instrumental in the development of more humane methods in the custody and care of people with mental disorders, an approach that came to be known as moral treatment....
 adopted the methods outlined by Pinel and that same year Tuke opened the York Retreat
The Retreat

The Retreat, commonly known as the York Retreat, is a place in England for the treatment of people with mental disorders. Located in Lamel Hill in York, it operates as a Non-profit organization Charitable trust....
 in England. That institution became known as a model throughout the world for humane and moral treatment of patients suffering from mental disorders. It inspired similar institutions in the United States, most notably the Brattleboro Retreat
Brattleboro Retreat

The Brattleboro Retreat is a private, non-profit psychiatric hospital that pioneered mental health care in the United States. It is located on over of land between the Connecticut River and downtown Brattleboro, Vermont....
 and the Hartford Retreat (now the Institute of Living).

19th century

At the turn of the century, England and France combined only had a few hundred individuals in asylums. By the late 1890s and early 1900s, this number skyrocketed to the hundreds of thousands. The United States housed 150,000 patients in mental hospitals by 1904. German speaking
German language

German is a West Germanic languages, thus related to and classified alongside English language and Dutch language. It is one of the world's world language and the most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union....
 countries housed more than 400 public and private sector asylums. These asylums were critical to the evolution of psychiatry as they provided a universal platform of practice throughout the world.

Universities often played a part in the administration of the asylums. Due to the relationship between the universities and asylums, scores of competitive psychiatrists were being molded in Germany. Germany became known as the world leader in psychiatry during the nineteenth century. The country possessed more than 20 separate universities all competing with each other for scientific advancement. However, because of Germany's individual states and the lack of national regulation of asylums, the country had no organized centralization of asylums or psychiatry. Britain, like Germany, also lacked a centralized organization for the administration of asylums. This deficit hindered the diffusion of new ideas in medicine and psychiatry.

In the United States in 1834, Anna Marsh
Anna Marsh

Anna Marsh established the Vermont Asylum of the Insane in 1834.Marsh was born and raised in Hinsdale, New Hampshire. She was the widow of physician Perley Marsh....
, a physician's widow, deeded the funds to build her country's first financially-stable private asylum. The Brattleboro Retreat
Brattleboro Retreat

The Brattleboro Retreat is a private, non-profit psychiatric hospital that pioneered mental health care in the United States. It is located on over of land between the Connecticut River and downtown Brattleboro, Vermont....
 marked the beginning of America's private psychiatric hospitals challenging state institutions for patients, funding, and influence. Although based on England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
's York Retreat, it would be followed by speciality institutions of every treatment philosophy.

In 1838, France enacted a law to regulate both the admissions into asylums and asylum services across the country. By 1840, asylums as therapeutic institutions existed throughout Europe and the United States.

However, the new and dominating ideas that mental illness could be "conquered" during the mid-nineteenth century all came crashing down. Psychiatrists and asylums were being pressured by an ever increasing patient population. The average number of patients in asylums in the United States jumped 927%. Numbers were similar in England and Germany. Overcrowding was rampant in France where asylums would commonly take in double their maximum capacity. Increases in asylum populations may have been a result of the transfer of care from families and poorhouse
Poorhouse

A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run facility for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....
s, but the specific reasons as to why the increase occurred is still debated today. No matter the cause, the pressure on asylums from the increase was taking its toll on the asylums and psychiatry as a specialty. Asylums were once again turning into custodial institutions and the reputation of psychiatry in the medical world had hit an extreme low.

20th century


Disease classification and rebirth of biological psychiatry
The 20th century introduced a new psychiatry into the world. The different perspectives of looking at mental disorders began to be introduced. The career of Emil Kraepelin
Emil Kraepelin

Emil Kraepelin was a Germany psychiatrist. The Encyclopedia of Psychology by H. J. Eysenck identifies him as the founder of contemporary scientific psychiatry, as well as of psychopharmacology and psychiatric genetics....
 somewhat model this hiatus of psychiatry between the different disciplines. Kraepelin initially was very attracted to psychology and ignored the ideas of anatomical psychiatry. Following his acceptance for a professorship of psychiatry, and later his work in a university psychiatric clinic, Kraepelin's interest in pure psychology began to fade and he introduced a plan of a more comprehensive psychiatry. Kraepelin also began to study and promote the ideas of disease classification for mental disorders, an idea introduced by Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum
Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum

Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum was a German people psychiatrist who practiced medicine at Wehlau and K?nigsberg before becoming director of the mental hospital at G?rlitz, Prussia in 1867....
. The initial ideas behind biological psychiatry, stating that these different disorders were all biological in nature, evolved into a new idea of "nerves" and psychiatry became a sort of rough neurology or neuropsychiatry. Following Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalysis of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of Psychological repression and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing psychopathology through dialogue...
's death, ideas stemming from psychoanalytic theory
Psychoanalytic theory

Psychoanalytic theory is a general term for approaches to psychoanalysis which attempt to provide a conceptual framework more-or-less independent of clinical practice rather than based on empirical analysis of clinical cases....
 also began to take root. The psychoanalytic theory became popular among psychiatrists because it allowed the patients to be treated in private practices instead of asylums. However the progress of psychiatry by the 1970s turned psychoanalytic theory into a marginal school of thought within the field.
Ach
This period of time saw the reemergence of biological psychiatry. Psychopharmacology
Psychopharmacology

Psychopharmacology is the study of drug-induced changes in mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior.The field of psychopharmacology studies a wide range of substances with various types of psychoactive properties....
 became an integral part of psychiatry starting with Otto Loewi
Otto Loewi

Otto Loewi was a Germany pharmacology whose discovery of acetylcholine helped enhance medical therapy. The discovery earned for him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1936 which he shared with Sir Henry Dale....
's discovery of the first neurotransmitter, acetylcholine
Acetylcholine

The chemical compound acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter in both the peripheral nervous system and central nervous system in many organisms including homo sapiens....
. Neuroimaging
Neuroimaging

Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly imaging the neuroanatomy, function/pharmacology of the brain....
 was first utilized as a tool for psychiatry in the 1980s. The discovery of chlorpromazine
Chlorpromazine

Chlorpromazine is a phenothiazine antipsychotic, and the oldest in the antipsychotic family of drugs. It is a typical antipsychotic. It is principally used in the treatment of schizophrenia, though it has also been used to treat severe manic episodes in people with bipolar disorder....
's effectiveness in treating schizophrenia
Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia , from the Ancient Greek Root schizein and phren, phren- is a psychiatry diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality....
 in 1952 revolutionized treatment of the disease, as did lithium carbonate
Lithium carbonate

Lithium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula Li2CO3. This colorless salt is widely used in the processing of metal oxide and has received attention for its use in psychiatry....
's ability to stabilize mood highs and lows in bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a Classification of mental disorders that describes a category of mood disorders, or mood swings, defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania....
 in 1948. While psychosocial issues were still seen as valid, psychotherapy was seen to be their "cure." Genetics were once again thought to play a role in mental illness. Molecular biology opened the door for specific genes contributing mental disorders to be identified. By 1995 genes contributing to schizophrenia
Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia , from the Ancient Greek Root schizein and phren, phren- is a psychiatry diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality....
 had been identified on chromosome 6
Chromosome 6 (human)

Chromosome 6 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 6 spans more than 170 million base pairs and represents between 5.5 and 6% of the total DNA in cell ....
 and genes contributing to bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a Classification of mental disorders that describes a category of mood disorders, or mood swings, defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania....
 on chromosomes 18
Chromosome 18 (human)

Chromosome 18 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 18 spans about 76 million base pairs and represents about 2.5 percent of the total DNA in cell ....
 and 21
Chromosome 21 (human)

Chromosome 21 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. The trisomy of the 21st chromosome causes Down Syndrome....
.

Anti-psychiatry and deinstitutionalization
The introduction of psychiatric medication
Psychiatric medication

A psychiatric medication is a licenced psychoactive drug taken to exert an effect on the mental state and used to treat mental disorders. Usually prescribed in psychiatry settings, these medications are typically made of Chemical synthesis chemical compounds, although some are naturally occurring....
s and the use of laboratory
Medical laboratory

A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are done on clinical specimens in order to get information about the health of a patient....
 tests altered the doctor-patient relationship
Doctor-patient relationship

The physician-patient relationship is central to the practice of medicine and is essential for the delivery of high-quality health care in the diagnosis and treatment of disease....
 between psychiatrists and their patients. Psychiatry's shift to the hard science
Hard science

Hard science is a term used to describe natural sciences and physical sciences as distinct from social science. The hard sciences are believed to rely on experimental, empirical, quantification data or the scientific method and focus on accuracy and Objectivity ....
s had been interpreted as a lack of concern for patients. Anti-psychiatry
Anti-psychiatry

See also: Biopsychiatry controversyAnti-psychiatry usually refers to a movement that emerged in the 1960s hostile to most of the fundamental assumptions and common practices of psychiatry....
 had become more prevalent in the late twentieth century due to this and publications in the media which conceptualized mental disorders as myths. Others in the movement argued that psychiatry was a form of social control and demanded that institutionalized psychiatric care, stemming from Pinel's thereapeutic asylum, be abolished. Incidents of physical abuse by psychiatrists took place during the reign of some totalitarian regimes as part of a system to enforce political control with some of the abuse even continuing to our present day. Historical examples of the abuse of psychiatry took place in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 , in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 under Psikhushka
Psikhushka

In the Soviet Union, psychiatry was used for punitive purposes. Psychiatric hospitals were often used by the authorities as prisons in order to isolate political prisoners from the rest of society, discredit their ideas, and break them physically and mentally; as such they were considered a form of torture....
, and in the apartheid system in South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
.

Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy , also known as electroshock, is a well established, albeit controversial psychiatry treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect....
 was one treatment that the anti-psychiatry movement wanted eliminated. They alleged that electroconvulsive therapy damaged the brain and it was used as a tool for discipline. While there is no evidence that brain damage was a result of electronconvulsive therapy, there have been isolated incidents where the use of electroconvulsive therapy was threatened to keep the patients "in line." The prevalence of psychiatric medication helped initiate deinstitutionalization
Deinstitutionalisation

Deinstitutionalisation is the process of replacing long-stay psychiatric hospital with less isolated community mental health services for those diagnosed with mental disorder or developmental disability....
, the process of discharging patients from psychiatric hospitals to the community. The pressure from the anti-psychiatry movements and the ideology of community treatment from the medical arena helped sustain deinstitutionalization. Thirty-three years after deinstitutionalization started in the United States, only 19% of the patients in state hospitals remained. Mental health professional
Mental health professional

A mental health professional is a person who offers services for the purpose of improving an individual's mental health or to treat mental illness....
s envisioned a process wherein patients would be released into communities where they could participate in a normal life while living in a therapeutic atmosphere.

Transinstitutionalization and the aftermath
In 1963, United States president
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
 John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
 introduced legislation delegating the National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute of Mental Health

The National Institute of Mental Health is part of the federal government of the United States and the largest research organization in the world specializing in mental illness....
 to administer Community Mental Health Centers for those being discharged from state psychiatric hospitals. Later, though, the Community Mental Health Center's focus was diverted to provide psychotherapy sessions for those suffering from acute and/or mild mental disorders. Ultimately there were no arrangements made for actively ill patients who were being discharged from hospitals. Some of those suffering from mental disorders drifted into homelessness or ended up in prisons and jails. Studies found that 33% of the homeless population and 14% of inmates in prisons and jails were already diagnosed with a mental illness.

In 1972, psychologist David Rosenhan
David Rosenhan

David L. Rosenhan is an United States psychologist. He is best known for the Rosenhan experiment.Rosenhan received his Bachelor of Arts academic degree from Yeshiva University....
 published the Rosenhan experiment
Rosenhan experiment

The Rosenhan experiment was a List of famous experiments into the validity of psychiatry diagnosis conducted by David Rosenhan in 1972. It was published in the journal Science under the title "On being sane in insane places."...
, a study analyzing the validity of psychiatric diagnoses. The study arranged for eight individuals with no history of psychopathology to attempt admission into psychiatric hospitals. The individuals included a graduate student, psychologists, an artist, a housewife, and two physicians, including one psychiatrist. All eight individuals were admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Psychiatrists then attempted to treat the individuals using psychiatric medication. All eight were discharged within 7 to 52 days. Rosenhan's study concluded that individuals with no presence of mental disorders could not be distinguished from those suffering from mental disorders. While critics such as Robert Spitzer
Robert Spitzer (psychiatrist)

Dr. Robert L. Spitzer is a Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University in New York City, United States and is on the research faculty of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research....
 placed doubt on the validity and credibility of the study, they also conceded that the consistency of psychiatric diagnoses needed improvement.

Psychiatry, like many medical specialties, has a continuing, significant demand for research investigating its related diseases, classifications, origins, and treatments. Psychiatry falls into biology's fundamental belief that disease and health are different elements of an individual's adaptation to an environment. But psychiatry also recognizes that the environment of the human species is complex and includes physical, cultural, and relational elements. In addition to external factors, the human brain
Human brain

The human brain is the center of the human nervous system and is a highly complex organ. It has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over five times as large as the "average brain" of a mammal with the same body size....
 must recognize or organize an individual's hopes, fears, desires, fantasies and feelings. Psychiatry's difficult task is the attempt to envelop the understanding of these factors so that they can be studied both clinically and physiologically.

Industry and academia


Practitioners

As with most medical specialties, all physician
Physician

A physician, medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, or medical doctor practices medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease and injury....
s can diagnose mental disorders and prescribe treatments utilizing principles of psychiatry. Psychiatrist
Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry and is certified in treating mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy....
s are physicians who specialize in psychiatry and are certified in treating mental illness
Mental illness

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture....
 using the biomedical approach to mental disorders. Psychiatrists may also go through significant training to conduct psychotherapy
Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a wiktionary:Client in problems of living. It aims to increase the individual's sense of health and reduce their subjective sense of discomfort....
, psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers, which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behaviour....
, and/or cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psychotherapy approach that aims to influence dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure....
, but it is their medical training, access to medical laboratories
Medical laboratory

A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are done on clinical specimens in order to get information about the health of a patient....
, and ability to prescribe medication that differentiates them from other mental health professional
Mental health professional

A mental health professional is a person who offers services for the purpose of improving an individual's mental health or to treat mental illness....
s.

Research

Psychiatric research is, by its very nature, interdisciplinary. From a general perspective it studies and combines social, biological and psychological approaches and how those perspectives cause mental disorders. While practicing psychiatrists and other psychiatric researchers study outcomes from such a wide variety of fields, research institutions and publications exist that are dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of mental disorders within the psychiatric context. Under the supervision of institutional review board
Institutional review board

An institutional review board , also known as an independent ethics committee or ethical review board is a committee that has been formally designated to approve, monitor, and review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of the research subjects....
s, psychiatric researchers look at a variety of topics such as neuroimaging, genetics, and psychopharmacology, which in turn help enhance diagnostic consistency, discover new treatment methods, and classify new mental disorders. On the basis of Tinbergen's four questions
Tinbergen's four questions

When asked questions of animal and human behavior such as why these creatures see, even elementary school children can answer that vision helps them find food and avoid danger....
 a framework of reference or "periodic table" of all fields of anthropological research and humanities can be established. It helps to structure interdisciplinarity in Psychiatry, e.g. how Neurology
Neurology

Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the Central nervous system, Peripheral nervous system, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and...
, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a wiktionary:Client in problems of living. It aims to increase the individual's sense of health and reduce their subjective sense of discomfort....
 might be connected with other fields of anthropological research.

Clinical application


Diagnostic systems
Psychiatric diagnoses
Psychiatric assessment

A psychiatry assessment is a process of gathering information about a from a person within a mental health service, with the purpose of making a diagnosis....
 take place in a wide variety of settings and are performed by many different health professional
Health care provider

A health care provider or health professional is an organization or person who delivers proper health care in a systematic way professionally to any individual in need of health care services....
s. Therefore, the diagnostic procedure may vary greatly based upon these factors. Typically, though, a psychiatric diagnosis utilizes a differential diagnosis
Differential diagnosis

A differential diagnosis is a systematic method used to identify unknowns. This method, essentially a process of elimination, is used by taxonomy to identify living organisms, and by physicians and other qualified healthcare professionals to diagnosis the specific disease in a patient....
 procedure where a mental status examination
Mental status examination

The mental status examination abbreviated MSE, is an important part of the clinical Psychiatric assessment process in psychiatric practice....
 and physical examination is conducted, pathological
Pathology

Pathology is the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of Organ , tissue , bodily fluids and whole bodies . The term also encompasses the related science study of disease processes, called General pathology....
, psychopathological
Psychopathology

Psychopathology is a term which refers to either the study of mental illness or mental distress, or the manifestation of behaviours and experiences which may be indicative of mental illness or psychological impairment, such as abnormal, maladaptive behavior or mental activity....
 and psychosocial
Psychosocial

The term psychosocial refers to one in psychological development in and interaction with a social environment. The individual is not necessarily fully aware of this relationship with his or her environment....
 histories obtained, neuroimages
Neuroimaging

Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly imaging the neuroanatomy, function/pharmacology of the brain....
 or other neurophysiological
Neurophysiology

Neurophysiology is a part of physiology. Neurophysiology is the study of nervous system function. Primarily, it is connected with neurobiology, psychology, neurology, clinical neurophysiology, electrophysiology, ethology, neuroanatomy, cognitive science and other brain sciences....
 measurements are taken, and personality test
Personality test

A personality test aims to describe aspects of a person's character that remain stable throughout that person's lifetime, the individual's character pattern of behavior, thoughts, and feelings....
s or cognitive test
Cognitive test

Cognitive tests are assessments of the cognitive capabilities of humans and animals. Tests administered to humans include various forms of IQ tests; those administered to animals include the mirror test and the T maze test ....
s may be administered. In addition psychiatrists are beginning to utilize genetics
Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and Genetic variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding....
 during the diagnostic process. Some endophenotypes being researched may predispose certain individuals to certain conditions.

Diagnostic manuals
Three main diagnostic manuals used to classify mental health conditions are in use today. The ICD-10
ICD-10

The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems10th Revision is a coding of diseases and signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World Health Organization ....
 is produced and published by the World Health Organisation, includes a section on psychiatric conditions, and is used worldwide. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides diagnostic criteria for classification of mental disorders....
, produced and published by the American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association

The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential world-wide....
, is primarily focused on mental health conditions and is the main classification tool in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. It is currently in its fourth revised edition and is also used worldwide. The Chinese Society of Psychiatry
Chinese Society of Psychiatry

The Chinese Society of Psychiatry is the largest organization for psychiatrists in China. It publishes the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders ....
 has also produced a diagnostic manual, the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders
Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders

The Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders , published by the Chinese Society of Psychiatry , is a clinical guide used in China for the diagnosis of mental disorders....
.

The stated intention of diagnostic manuals is typically to develop replicable and clinically useful categories and criteria, to facilitate consensus and agreed upon standards, whilst being atheoretical as regards etiology. However, the categories are nevertheless based on particular psychiatric theories and data; they are broad and often specified by numerous possible combinations of symptoms, and many of the categories overlap in symptomology or typically occur together. While originally intended only as a guide for experienced clinicians trained in its use, the nomenclature is now widely used by clinicians, administrators and insurance companies in many countries.

Treatment settings

General considerations
Individuals with mental health conditions are commonly referred to as patient
Patient

A patient is any person who receives medical attention, care, or Therapy. The person is most often illness or injured and in need of treatment by a physician or other Health care provider, although one who is visiting a physician for a routine check-up may also be viewed as a patient....
s
but may also be called client
Patient

A patient is any person who receives medical attention, care, or Therapy. The person is most often illness or injured and in need of treatment by a physician or other Health care provider, although one who is visiting a physician for a routine check-up may also be viewed as a patient....
s
, consumer
Consumer

Consumer is a broad label that refers to any individuals or household that use Good generated within the economic system. The concept of a consumer is used in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary....
s
, or service recipients. They may come under the care of a psychiatric physician or other psychiatric practitioners by various paths, the two most common being self-referral or referral by a primary-care physician. Alternatively, a person may be referred by hospital medical staff, by court order
Court order

A court order is an official proclamation by a judge that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a Hearing , a lawsuit, an appeal or other court proceedings....
, involuntary commitment
Involuntary commitment

Involuntary commitment is the practice of using legal means or forms as part of a mental health law to commit a person to a mental hospital, insane asylum or psychiatric ward against their will and/or over their protests....
, or, in the UK and Australia, by sectioning under a mental health law
Mental health law

Mental health law is the area of the law that is applied specifically to persons with a diagnosis or possible diagnosis of mental illness, and to the people involved in managing or treating others in this situation....
.

Whatever the circumstance of a person's referral, a psychiatrist first assesses
Psychiatric assessment

A psychiatry assessment is a process of gathering information about a from a person within a mental health service, with the purpose of making a diagnosis....
 the person's mental and physical condition. This usually involves interviewing the person and often obtaining information from other sources such as other health and social care professionals, relatives, associates, law enforcement and emergency medical personnel and psychiatric rating scales. A mental status examination
Mental status examination

The mental status examination abbreviated MSE, is an important part of the clinical Psychiatric assessment process in psychiatric practice....
 is carried out, and a physical examination
Physical examination

File:Reeve 978.jpgPhysical examination or clinical examination is the process by which a health care provider investigates the body of a patient for sign of disease....
 is usually performed to establish or exclude other illnesses, such as thyroid dysfunction or brain tumors, or identify any signs of self-harm
Self-harm

Self-injury , self-harm or deliberate self-harm is deliberate infliction of tissue damage or alteration to oneself without suicide....
; this examination may be done by someone other than the psychiatrist, especially if blood test
Blood test

A blood test is a medical laboratory analysis performed on a blood sample that is usually extracted from a vein in the arm using a hypodermic needle, or via fingerprick....
s and medical imaging
Medical imaging

Medical imaging refers to the techniques and processes used to create s of the human body for clinical purposes or medical science .As a discipline and in its widest sense, it is part of biological imaging and incorporates radiology , radiological sciences, endoscopy, thermography, medical photography and microscopy ....
 are performed.

Like all medications, psychiatric medications can cause adverse effects
Adverse effect (medicine)

In medicine, an adverse effect is a harmful and undesired effect resulting from a medication or other intervention such as chemotherapy or surgery....
 in patients and hence often involve ongoing therapeutic drug monitoring
Therapeutic drug monitoring

Therapeutic drug monitoring is a branch of clinical chemistry that specializes in the measurement of medication levels in blood. Its main focus is on drugs with a narrow therapeutic range, i.e....
, for instance full blood counts or, for patients taking lithium salts, serum
Blood plasma

Blood plasma is the liquid component of blood, in which the blood cells are suspended. It makes up about 55% of total blood volume. It is composed of mostly water , and contains dissolved proteins, glucose, clotting factors, mineral ions, Hormone and carbon dioxide ....
 levels of lithium
Lithium

Lithium is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft alkali metal with a silver-white color. Under standard conditions for temperature and pressure, it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element....
, renal and thyroid function. Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy , also known as electroshock, is a well established, albeit controversial psychiatry treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect....
 (ECT) is sometimes administered for serious and disabling conditions, especially those unresponsive to medication. The efficacity and adverse effects of psychiatric drugs have been challenged

The close relationship between those prescribing psychiatric medication and pharmaceutical companies has become increasingly controversial along with the influence which pharmaceutical companies are exerting on mental health policies.

Also controversial are forced drugging and the "lack of insight" label. According to a report published by the U.S. National Council on Disability,
Involuntary treatment is extremely rare outside the psychiatric system, allowable only in such cases as unconsciousness or the inability to communicate. People with psychiatric disabilities, on the other hand, even when they vigorously protest treatments they do not want, are routinely subjected to them anyway, on the justification that they "lack insight" or are unable to recognize their need for treatment because of their "mental illness." In practice, "lack of insight" becomes disagreement with the treating professional, and people who disagree are labeled "noncompliant" or "uncooperative with treatment."


Inpatient treatment
Psychiatric treatments
Treatment of mental illness

The treatment of mental disorders includes various forms of psychotherapy, psychiatric medication, and other practices....
 have changed over the past several decades. In the past, psychiatric patients were often hospitalized
Psychiatric hospital

A psychiatric hospital is a hospital specializing in the treatment of serious mental illness, usually for relatively long-term inpatients.Two rules usually govern whether someone should be placed in a psychiatric hospital: if someone is an immediate threat to harm themselves, or to harm other people....
 for six months or more, with some cases involving hospitalization for many years. Today, people receiving psychiatric treatment are more likely to be seen as outpatients. If hospitalization is required, the average hospital stay is around one to two weeks, with only a small number receiving long-term hospitalization.

Psychiatric inpatients are people admitted to a hospital or clinic to receive psychiatric care. Some are admitted involuntarily, perhaps committed to a secure hospital, or in some jurisdictions to a facility within the prison system. In many countries including the USA and Canada, the criteria for involuntary admission vary with local jurisdiction. They may be as broad as having a mental health condition, or as narrow as being an immediate danger to themselves and/or others. Bed availability is often the real determinant of admission decisions to hard pressed public facilities. European Human Rights legislation restricts detention to medically-certified cases of mental disorder, and adds a right to timely judicial review of detention.

Syringe2
Patients may be admitted voluntarily if the treating doctor considers that safety isn't compromised by this less restrictive option. Inpatient psychiatric wards may be secure (for those thought to have a particular risk of violence or self-harm) or unlocked/open. Some wards are mixed-sex whilst same-sex wards are increasingly favored to protect women inpatients. Once in the care of a hospital, people are assessed
Psychiatric assessment

A psychiatry assessment is a process of gathering information about a from a person within a mental health service, with the purpose of making a diagnosis....
, monitored, and often given medication and care from a multidisciplinary team, which may include physicians, psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychiatric nurses
Psychiatric and mental health nursing

Psychiatric nursing or mental health nursing is the speciality of nursing that cares for people of all ages with mental illness or mental distress, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, psychosis, clinical depression or dementia....
, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatric social workers, occupational therapists and social workers. If a person receiving treatment in a psychiatric hospital is assessed as at particular risk of harming themselves or others, they may be put on constant or intermittent one-to-one supervision, and may be physically restrained or medicated. People on inpatient wards may be allowed leave for periods of time, either accompanied or on their own.

In many developed countries there has been a massive reduction in psychiatric beds since the mid 20th century, with the growth of community care. Standards of inpatient care remain a challenge in some public and private facilities, due to levels of funding, and facilities in developing countries are typically grossly inadequate for the same reason.

Outpatient treatment
People may receive psychiatric care on an inpatient or outpatient basis. Outpatient treatment involves periodic visits to a clinician for consultation in his or her office, usually for an appointment lasting thirty to sixty minutes. These consultations normally involve the psychiatric practitioner interviewing the person to update their assessment of the person's condition, and to provide psychotherapy or review medication. The frequency with which a psychiatric practitioner sees people in treatment varies widely, from days to months, depending on the type, severity and stability of each person's condition, and depending on what the clinician and client decide would be best. Increasingly, psychiatrists are limiting their practices to psychopharmacology (prescribing medications) with less time devoted to psychotherapy or "talk" therapies, or behavior modification. The role of psychiatrists is changing in community psychiatry, with many assuming more leadership roles, coordinating and supervising teams of allied health professionals and junior doctors in delivery of health services.

See also


General references

  • Ford-Martin, Paula Anne Gale (2002), "Psychosis" Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, Farmington Hills, Michigan
  • Hirschfeld et al 2003, , J. Clin. Psychiatry vol.64(2), p.161-174.
  • McGorry PD, Mihalopoulos C, Henry L et al (1995) Spurious precision: procedural validity of diagnostic assessment in psychiatric disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry 152 (2) 220-223
  • MedFriendly.com, , Viewed 20 September, 2006
  • Moncrieff J, Cohen D. (2005). Rethinking models of psychotropic drug action. Psychotherapy & Psychosomatics, 74, 145-153
  • C. Burke, Psychiatry: a "value-free" science? Linacre Quarterly, vol. 67/1 (Feb. 2000), pp. 59-88.
  • National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists, , Viewed 20 September, 2006
  • van Os J, Gilvarry C, Bale R et al (1999) A comparison of the utility of dimensional and categorical representations of psychosis. Psychological Medicine 29 (3) 595-606
  • Williams, J.B., Gibbon, M., First, M., Spitzer, R., Davies, M., Borus, J., Howes, M., Kane, J., Pope, H., Rounsaville, B., and Wittchen, H. (1992). The structured clinical interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) II: Multi-site test-retest reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 630-636.


External links