The use of the Term ‘Undiagnosed Psychiatric Disorder'
- 1 November 1971
- journal article
- Published by Royal College of Psychiatrists in The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 119 (552) , 529-531
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.119.552.529
Abstract
Longitudinal clinical studies have provided evidence for years to support the value of classifying psychiatrically ill patients according to well-described syndromes whenever possible. Using such classification as a base, knowledge has been accumulated concerning aetiology, prognosis, and treatment of such diverse disorders as general paresis, schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, antisocial personality, and others. Our understanding of the essential nature, causes, and treatment of psychiatric disorders is far from complete, and what we do know has been learned more through systematic studies of syndromes than through analyses of intrapsychic and interpersonal processes, however important those may be. In order to treat a psychiatrically ill patient it is at least as important to understand the syndrome from which he suffers as to understand the nature of his personal problems. The physician can attend to the former without neglecting the latter.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Psychiatric illness in a developing country: a clinical study.American Journal of Public Health and the Nations Health, 1970
- THE COMMUNICATION OF SUICIDAL INTENT PRIOR TO PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALIZATION: A STUDY OF 87 PATIENTSAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1961