Why Psychiatry Is a Branch of Medicine

This groundbreaking new book clarifies the debate about treating mental illness by applying the medical model--the traditional way of thinking about disease--to psychiatric disorders, an approach that ties clinical practice and research to the broader perspective of modern biology. In the author's view, brain function variations are involved in the development of psychopathological syndromes, while at the same time, subjective experiences--cognitive and emotional--are important manifestations of brain physiology in health and disease. Guze's argument emphasizes the need for careful attention to psychiatric diagnosis and to each of three main research strategies inherent in the medical model: the epidemiological, the clinical, and the biological. He emphasizes the importance of controlled studies in all three strategies, noting the many pitfalls associated with drawing facile conclusions from apparent associations. How psychotherapy fits into the medical model and can be joined with biological psychiatry is an important facet of his discussion. He also deals with a number of social, ethical, and philosophical questions that psychiatrists face including causality, teleology, consciousness, mind-brain relationships, reductionism, and free will. The book offers stimulating reading for all psychiatrists, psychologists, and general readers interested in the newest ideas in treating mentally illness.