Excerpt from The Basis of Psychiatry (Psychobiological Medicine) A Guide to the Study of Mental Disorders, for Students and Practitioners As the domain of general medicine in recent years has become considerably broadened, and many of the newer facts have been brought to light through the channels of Biology, and as the field of "traditional General Physiology" has become more or less fully occupied by Experimental Biology, so the mode of approach to the problems of Psychiatry is following similar trends. This change in the direction of approach to psychiatry has come about through the development of a closer relationship between the subjects of biology and psychology; in fact, the two branches of science overlap to the extent that in the study of many problems it is difficult to determine where the one begins and the other ends, for the reason that it is but the same "science" viewed from different aspects. The statement in a text-book on psychology that "Psychology is the science of behavior" presents one of the striking evidences of the change in point of view of the psychologist, which is steadily developing and is becoming more widely accepted. As physicians and practitioners we have come to consider the group of mental disorders which belong to the class of recoverable psychoses not primarily as mental diseases, but as reflections of some bodily disorder, which, through its effect upon the organ of adjustment - the nervous mechanism and its lower and higher (psychic) reflexes - prevents the patient from making appropriate adaptations to environmental conditions, and therefore constitutes a thoroughly biological problem. The reactions of the patient as a whole individual form the subject underlying every problem in psychiatry. In order to solve the question there must be an examination of all bodily functions before an intelligent conclusion can be reached from the standpoint of diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of the mental condition. In the present work there has been an attempt to present to the student of psychiatry, the practitioner of medicine and others interested in the disorders of adjustment, an arrangement of the subjects in a concise form, yet embracing a sufficient number of biological and psychological data to indicate the course which this viewpoint requires us to follow. As a method of approach to the study of psychiatry the present mode of presentation has been found useful to the writer. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Basis of Psychiatry (Psychobiological Medicine) A Guide to the Study of Mental Disorders, for Students and Practitioners Many of the problems of internal medicine are approachable from a biologic standpoint. Stimulated by studies concerning animal be havior, such as those more recently by Loeb, Jennings, and others, there has been developed an attractive point of view from which the pathological as well as the normal activities of living beings can be investigated with profit. To the student of psychiatry this biologic approach should appeal strongly because of the fact that the sciences Of biology and psychology are coming nearer and nearer to occupy a common ground, each lending support to the facts which serve to elucidate the phenomena of the other order, and also for the reason that -this point of view can consistently hold that mental phenomena, both in health and disease, are representatives of the biological reactions of the individual as a whole, rather than that of any particular organ or group of organs. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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The updated edition of this classic book provides the busy clinician, psychiatric resident and medical student with the most up-to-date information on etiology, diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders. The reader is provided with contemporary information and literature supported by a close survey of the field. Several new chapters dealing with new concepts in biology and treatment of mental disorders have been added to complete this expanded edition.