A historical perspective on neurological and neuropsychiatric definitions

Berrios, German; Markova, Ivana

Abstract

Taking a historical epistemological perspective, this chapter explores how neurology and neuropsychiatry were constructed. As a medical specialism developing in the 19th century, neurology resulted from the convergence of: (1) the term ‘neurology’; (2) a set of concepts; and (3) a list of disorders. Such a convergence was facilitated by changes in the manner in which the concepts of neuroses, central nervous system, and lesion were to be defined after 1860. Neuropsychiatry carries a less stable epistemology. Underpinned by the foundational claim that mental diseases are diseases of the brain, its meaning has changed pari passu with redefinitions of the concepts such as mind, mental symptom, cause, and meaning. In the UK, there is no agreed definition of neuropsychiatry either and hence what is currently known as ‘organic/biological psychiatry’ and the claim that psychiatry is just a subregion of neurology cannot be considered as coterminous.

Citation

Berrios, G., & Markova, I. (2021). A historical perspective on neurological and neuropsychiatric definitions. In C. Brayne, V. L. Feigin, L. J. Launer, & G. Logroscino (Eds.), Oxford Textbook of Neurologic and Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology (3-8). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780198749493.003.0001

• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Aug 6, 2024
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 3-8
• Book Title: Oxford Textbook of Neurologic and Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology
• Chapter Number: 1
• ISBN: 9780198749493
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/med/9780198749493.003.0001
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4784592