Psychiatria Danubina, Vol. 23. No. 3., 2011.
Review article
CONCEPTUAL DISCORD IN PSYCHIATRY: ORIGIN, IMPLICATIONS AND FAILED ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE IT
Dušan Kecmanović
; Academy of Arts and Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract
Unlike other medical disciplines, psychiatry abounds in conceptual models. All of them are legitimate as there is no conclusive
evidence that either is more proper than others in terms of its capacity to explicate the very nature of mental disorders and make
possible more efficacious treatment of those with mental illness. There are two major sources of the existence of numerous models in
psychiatry: difficulties in discerning the role played by the biological and the psychological in the genesis and treatment of
individual mental disorders, and want of a widely accepted theory of the mind-body relationship. The conceptual divide in psychiatry
has numerous negative effects: scarce communication or no communication between the advocates of different approaches; overrating
of the benefits of the concept one clings to; lack of interest in other approaches; confusion of clients when confronted with
different explanation of the origin of their troubles and most appropriate treatment; tarnished image of psychiatry. There have been
several attempts to correct conceptual cacophony in psychiatry. None of them proved successful.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
76822
URI
Publication date:
30.9.2011.
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