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Stanford Health Care

MINDING THE NEED FOR SPECIALISTS IN BRAIN DISEASES PERCEPTUAL AND MOTOR SKILLS Spiegel, D. 1990; 71 (3): 780-782

Abstract

A recent call for a new speciality in biologically based brain diseases is questioned on historical, empirical, and theoretical grounds. Psychiatry has oscillated between biological and psychosocial explanations for mental illness since its inception. Training in the biological basis of mental illness is and should be incorporated into psychiatric training, along with a balanced appreciation of the utility of psychotherapeutic and social intervention. Emphasis on only one aspect resurrects Cartesian dualism. Any disease, however biological in origin, is best treated by a clinician adept at multiple levels of understanding and intervention.

View details for Web of Science ID A1990EN17900015

View details for PubMedID 2293180