Re: Time to end the distinction between mental and neurological illnesses
In an article published in the British Journal of Psychiatry June 2012) Jeremy Holmes Psychiatrist/therapist describes what may be 'Psychodynamic Psychiatry's green shoots' or a psychoanalytically informed psychiatry which could also be understood as a hybrid or amalgamation of several different but related therapies currently used for helping people with mental health problems.
The main difference from historical psychoanalytical practice seems to be the emphasis on investigating a person's brain using scans to monitor actual changes to specific sites such as the amygdala, throughout a course of therapy (Neuropsychoanalysis). The therapy to is to be carried out in a sensitive and empathatic manner by well trained therapists ('psychodynamic psychiatry provides a 'science of intimacy'). It is strangely rather chilling to imagine the thought of such a deliberately contrived relationship being set up in order to bring about changes to a person's brain and personality. Jeremy Holmes is all too right to claim that psychiatry needs the humanising influence of practices which acknowledge the meanings and values people put on their lives and its difficulties but the very title of 'Psychiatry' is so loaded with negativity and stigma, in a way that 'Psychology' is not as much, it would be good to find a new more relevant name for integrated psychiatry.
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Re: Time to end the distinction between mental and neurological illnesses
In an article published in the British Journal of Psychiatry June 2012) Jeremy Holmes Psychiatrist/therapist describes what may be 'Psychodynamic Psychiatry's green shoots' or a psychoanalytically informed psychiatry which could also be understood as a hybrid or amalgamation of several different but related therapies currently used for helping people with mental health problems.
The main difference from historical psychoanalytical practice seems to be the emphasis on investigating a person's brain using scans to monitor actual changes to specific sites such as the amygdala, throughout a course of therapy (Neuropsychoanalysis). The therapy to is to be carried out in a sensitive and empathatic manner by well trained therapists ('psychodynamic psychiatry provides a 'science of intimacy'). It is strangely rather chilling to imagine the thought of such a deliberately contrived relationship being set up in order to bring about changes to a person's brain and personality. Jeremy Holmes is all too right to claim that psychiatry needs the humanising influence of practices which acknowledge the meanings and values people put on their lives and its difficulties but the very title of 'Psychiatry' is so loaded with negativity and stigma, in a way that 'Psychology' is not as much, it would be good to find a new more relevant name for integrated psychiatry.
Competing interests: No competing interests