Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, mood, emotion, and behavior.
Initial psychiatric assessment begins with taking a case history and conducting a mental status examination. Laboratory tests, physical examinations, and psychological assessments may also be used. On occasion, neuroimaging or neurophysiological studies are performed.
Mental disorders are diagnosed in accordance with diagnostic manuals such as the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), edited by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The fifth edition of the DSM (DSM-5) was published in May 2013. However, its release coincided with a statement by then-NIMH director Thomas Insel noting that the manual lacks validity compared to other medical specialties due to the absence of objective laboratory measures (biomarkers) for diagnosis.
Treatment may include psychotropics (psychiatric medicines), psychotherapy, substance-abuse treatment, and other modalities such as interventional approaches, assertive community treatment, community reinforcement, and supported employment. Treatment may be delivered on an inpatient or outpatient basis, depending on the severity of functional impairment or risk to the individual or community. Research within psychiatry is conducted by psychiatrists on an interdisciplinary basis with other professionals, including clinical psychologists, epidemiologists, nurses, social workers, and occupational therapists. Psychiatry has been controversial since its inception, facing criticism both internally and externally over its medicalization of mental distress, reliance on pharmaceuticals, use of coercion, influence from the pharmaceutical industry, and its historical role in social control and contentious treatments.
Ready for War
- 2024-12-12T00:00:00.000000Z
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