History of Science 2220 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Major Depressive Disorder, Nosology, Toxicodendron Radicans
2 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Does Psychiatry Need Science?
By Gary Greenberg
1886, Earle
superintendent of a state hospital complained that medical knowledge does not allow for insanity
to be classified upon a pathological basis.
Unable to look at the science of the causes and the effects of diseases
Doctors in other specialities were moving towards modern science
Using microscopes and chemical evaluations to identify material causes and to classify
diseases accordingly
But, brain is too complex
Mental conditions based on the outward display
Stagnant method
19th medicine is becoming more modernized through scientific improvements while psychiatry is
not improving
psychiatry looks at the outer sympotoms
1917, Salmon
psychiatrist
the reliance on appearances had resulted in a “chaotic” diagnostic system
discredits the science of psychiatry
need of a nosology
would help to meet the scientific demands/standards in order to receive public trust
doctors in most medical specialties are good at sorting our suffering according to its biochemical
causes
turn the symptoms into clues then follow the evidence to the cause
ex. With a blood test or tissue culture, they can determine whether a skin rash is
poison ivy or syphilis
“sure-footed diagnosis”
gives patients some comfort, and the confidence to submit to their treatments.
Psychatrists still unable to meet this demand
Bran a complex organ
D.S.M.
Offers expert consensus about which group of symptoms reflect particular mental illnesses
Which mental illnesses are real enough to warrant a name and place in the medical sphere
Credibility
Diagnoses have appeared and disappeared, symptoms lists altered regularly
Melancholia
Known since Hippocratic times
Lost its place is psychiatric nosology in 1980, all form of depressor had a single diagnostic label
– “major depressive disorder – melancholia was only a variant
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Document Summary
Unable to look at the science of the causes and the effects of diseases. Using microscopes and chemical evaluations to identify material causes and to classify. 1886, earle superintendent of a state hospital complained that medical knowledge does not allow for insanity to be classified upon a pathological basis. Doctors in other specialities were moving towards modern science diseases accordingly. 19th medicine is becoming more modernized through scientific improvements while psychiatry is not improving psychiatry looks at the outer sympotoms. With a blood test or tissue culture, they can determine whether a skin rash is poison ivy or syphilis. Sure-footed diagnosis gives patients some comfort, and the confidence to submit to their treatments. Offers expert consensus about which group of symptoms reflect particular mental illnesses. Lost its place is psychiatric nosology in 1980, all form of depressor had a single diagnostic label. Major depressive disorder melancholia was only a variant. Diagnoses have appeared and disappeared, symptoms lists altered regularly.
