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Neuropsychiatry, also once known as organism, emerged in the 19th century. To relieve emotional disorders it searches for biological causes such as chemical or neurological abnormalities and applies drugs, somatic treatments and other physical methods (for example, electroconvulsive therapy and brain surgery).
Inquiries about a patient\'s thoughts and feelings are made primarily as a basis for making diagnosis. Abnormal states of thought and feeling are regarded simply as manifestations of an underlying physical process, or as possible clues to a disturbance in neurochemistry; they are not explored to provide explanations for abnormal psychological states.
Many neuropsychiatrists, without abandoning their notion of physical causation, prescribe a variety of practical remedies for neurosis including re-education, encouragement and environmental change.
Neuropsychiatry is similar to both behaviourism and psychoanalysis in believing that the cause of the patient\'s illness is outside the patient\'s awareness. MJ |
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