Descriptive psychiatry
Encyclopedia
Descriptive psychiatry is based on the study of observable symptoms and behavioral phenomena rather than underlying psychodynamic processes. In descriptive psychiatry, the clinical psychiatrist focuses on empirically observable behaviors and conditions, such as words spoken or actions taken.
Modern works sometimes refer to it as biological psychiatry
. It was championed by Emil Kraepelin
in the early 20th century and is sometimes called Kraepelinian psychiatry. One major work of descriptive psychiatry is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
.
Its focus on observable symptoms contrasts with dynamic psychiatry
's emphasis on emotional processes and the mental mechanisms underlying them. The relative popularity of these two basic approaches to psychiatry changes over time. Descriptive psychiatry was seen at its low points as "narrow, bloodless, and without real significance." At its high points, it is considered orderly, systematic, and scientific. Most modern psychiatrists believe that it is most helpful to combine the two complementary approaches in a biopsychosocial model
.
Modern works sometimes refer to it as biological psychiatry
Biological psychiatry
Biological psychiatry, or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. It is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws on sciences such as neuroscience, psychopharmacology, biochemistry, genetics and...
. It was championed by Emil Kraepelin
Emil Kraepelin
Emil Kraepelin was a German psychiatrist. H.J. Eysenck's Encyclopedia of Psychology identifies him as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, as well as of psychopharmacology and psychiatric genetics. Kraepelin believed the chief origin of psychiatric disease to be biological and genetic...
in the early 20th century and is sometimes called Kraepelinian psychiatry. One major work of descriptive psychiatry is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders...
.
Its focus on observable symptoms contrasts with dynamic psychiatry
Dynamic psychiatry
Dynamic psychiatry is that which is based on the study of emotional processes, their origins, and the mental mechanisms underlying them, rather than observable behavioral phenomena, in contrast with descriptive psychiatry which is based on the study of observable symptoms and behavioral phenomena...
's emphasis on emotional processes and the mental mechanisms underlying them. The relative popularity of these two basic approaches to psychiatry changes over time. Descriptive psychiatry was seen at its low points as "narrow, bloodless, and without real significance." At its high points, it is considered orderly, systematic, and scientific. Most modern psychiatrists believe that it is most helpful to combine the two complementary approaches in a biopsychosocial model
Biopsychosocial model
The biopsychosocial model is a general model or approach that posits that biological, psychological , and social factors, all play a significant role in human functioning in the context of disease or illness...
.