History of Science 2220 Final: psychiatry
11 Apr 2017
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Document Summary
3 main themes in history of psychiatry physical vs. psychological causes what is normal"? (social construction of mental illness) stigma. Mental illnesses are unique because they continue, even today, to be defined by simply an assessment of a patient"s symptoms or behaviors rather than by physical or chemical or anatomical tests. It"s very difficult to test for mental illness most often you"re asking the patient directly how are you feeling, how are you acting, etc. and that is often determining mental illness. Today and historically, mental illness has been very misunderstood, sometimes difficult to diagnose, it"s origins are often unknown. The word itself is derived from two different greek words: The word psychiatry has its origins with johann christian reil. He coined the word psychiatry sometime in the early 1800s. The word psychiatry more broadly implies that the conditions that it describes are about the psyche the psyche is the human mind, soul, or spirit.
