Biological Psychiatry
Biological psychiatry attempts to comprehend mental disorders from a purely biological standpoint. This branch of mental health is both complex and intriguing.
Though biological psychiatry (biopsychiatry) may not be the first form of mental health that most people thing about, it is a field that many find intensely interesting. Biopsychiatry tends to use different sciences (neuroscience, psychopharmacology, biochemistry, genetics, and physiology) in order to draw conclusions regarding behavior and psychopathology. You may be thinking that this type of therapy closely resembles neurology, and in many ways you would be correct.
Interestingly, this branch of psychiatry does gently overlap with neurology, though the various treatments tend to be slightly different. While neurology focuses more upon epilepsy, cerebral palsy, encephalitis, neuritis, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, biopsychiatry is centered upon mental disorders not stemming from the nervous system. Since this type of therapy really deals with various biological functions, it is helpful when attempting to create various medicines in order to treat mental disorders.
Biological psychiatry differs from neurology since therapists will attempt to use both psychological therapy as well as medication in order to help a patient through a mental disorder. Though therapy is an important part of biopsychology, this portion of a treatment plan will often be conducted by clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, occupational therapists, and various other mental health professionals that do not prescribe medication.
Biopsychiatry is an ancient way of looking at mental health disorders, and this type of therapy can be traced all the way back to the grandfather of medicine: Hippocrates. Later, during the 20th Century, Sigmund Freud was greatly interested in the connection between biology and mental illness, and he believed that the two were inseparable. Today, this branch of mental health is highly developed, and many psychiatrists strongly believe in this type of connection.
It is fascinating to think that there may be a connection between biology and mental disorders. If one can directly impact the other, medical professionals may be able to deter a mental imbalance. In every way, biological psychiatry is one heavily influenced by medicine, which is why the two really cannot exist separately. Currently, there is some debate as to whether or not neurology and biopsychiatry can be combined to form one discipline, but the result of this hypothesis has yet to be decided.