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The use of the Term ‘Undiagnosed Psychiatric Disorder'

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Richard W. Hudgens
Richard W. Hudgens*
Affiliation:
Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, U.S.A.
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Extract

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.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 119 , Issue 552 , November 1971 , pp. 529 - 531
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1971 

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References

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