The Role of the Brain in Psychiatry: Implications for the Specialist Practice of Psychiatry

Abstract

As the debate on classification of psychiatric disorders intensifies [ 1 – 7 ], a number of seminal articles, that would once have been the domain of neuropsychiatry, have been appearing in the general psychiatry literature [ 9 – 12 ]. These and other articles focus on the interaction between the human organism (and more specifically the nervous system) and the environment [ 9 – 18 ]. This integrated psychobiological approach will hopefully put an end to the outdated nature versus nurture argument (couched in our more sophisticated terms as genetic versus environmental). It will also hopefully ensure that our understanding of the patient will integrate beyond the more concrete biological and/or psychological and/or social approach, when taking into account the factors which contribute to the clinical presentation of mental illness.