German E. Berrios – författare

To inform future research, treatment, and policy decisions, this book traces the scientific and social developments that shaped the current treatment model for depression in primary care over the past half century. While new strategies for diagnosing and treating depression have improved millions of people's lives, there is little evidence that the overall societal burden of depression has decreased. Most experts point to a gap between what psychiatrists know and what primary care doctors do to explain untreated depression. Callahan and Berrios argue, however, that the problem stems mainly from lack of a public health perspective, that prevailing etiologic models underestimate the roles of society and culture in causing depression and over-emphasize biological factors.The current conceptual model for depression is a scientific and social invention of the last quarter century. Such models are important because they shape how society views people with emotional symptoms, defines who is sick, and determines who should get care. Most parents who seek treatment for depression receive antidepressant medications in primary care. The authors show that although depressed patients' help-seeking behaviour and primary care doctors' clinical approach have changed little over the past half century, the field of primary care medicine has changed dramatically. They describe how the specific diagnoses and treatments developed by psychiatrists in the past 50 years have often collided with the non-specific approaches that dominate primary care practice. In examining the research seeking to close the gap between psychiatry and primary care, Callahan and Berrios offer public health models to explain the ongoing societal burden of depression. By exploring the history of depression in primary care, they open a pathway for improvements in the care of people with depression, where primary care physicians should play a greater leadership role in the future.

Since psychiatry remains a descriptive discipline, it is essential for its practitioners to understand how the language of psychiatry came to be formed. This important book, written by a psychiatrist-historian, traces the genesis of the descriptive categories of psychopathology and examines their interaction with the psychological and philosophical context within which they arose. The author explores particularly the language and ideas that have characterised descriptive psychopathology from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. He presents a masterful survey of the history of the main psychiatric symptoms, from the metaphysics of classical antiquity to the operational criteria of today. Tracing the evolution of concepts such as memory, consciousness, will and personality, and of symptoms ranging from catalepsy and aboulia to anxiety and self-harm, this book provides fascinating insights into the subjective nature of mental illness, and into the ideas of British, Continental and American authorities who sought to clarify and define it.

Since psychiatry remains a descriptive discipline, it is essential for its practitioners to understand how the language of psychiatry came to be formed. This important book, written by a psychiatrist-historian, traces the genesis of the descriptive categories of psychopathology and examines their interaction with the psychological and philosophical context within which they arose. The author explores particularly the language and ideas that have characterised descriptive psychopathology from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. He presents a masterful survey of the history of the main psychiatric symptoms, from the metaphysics of classical antiquity to the operational criteria of today. Tracing the evolution of concepts such as memory, consciousness, will and personality, and of symptoms ranging from catalepsy and aboulia to anxiety and self-harm, this book provides fascinating insights into the subjective nature of mental illness, and into the ideas of British, Continental and American authorities who sought to clarify and define it.

Memory complaints are a frequent feature of psychiatric disorder, even in the absence of organic disease. In this practical reference for the clinician, first published in 2000, German Berrios and John Hodges lead an international team of eminent psychiatrists, behavioural neurologists and clinical psychologists to focus on the psychiatric and organic aspects of memory disorders from the perspective of the multidisciplinary memory clinic. These disorders include organic syndromes such as the dementias, the amnesic syndrome and transient amnestic states, and also psychiatric aspects of memory disorders in the functional psychoses. Among the specific topics reviewed are the paramnesias, conditions such as déj... vu, flashbulb and flashback memories, and the problems of recovered, false and feigned memories. Throwing light on established conditions, and also introducing two new syndromes, this book makes a major contribution to the understanding and clinical management of memory disorders in psychiatry, neuropsychology and other disciplines.

Gerhart Zeller’s prize-winning 1961 study of the history of the concept of unitary psychosis has never before been published in German or English. To date, the manuscript remains by far the best historical account of the early development of the concept in Germany.The editors’ introduction analyzes Zeller’s monograph on three temporal levels. First, as a rediscovered original contribution to historical scholarship on nineteenth century psychiatric classification. Second, as an historical document in its own right, situated on the threshold between the murderous atrocities of the Holocaust and the psychiatric reforms of the 1970s and ’80s (Psychiatrie-Enquête). Third, as a unique contribution to post-Neo-Kraepelinian discourse and to the critiques of contemporary psychiatric nosologies (DSM) and research agendas (RDoC). In helping to elucidate the historical evolution of dimensional approaches to psychiatric classification, the monograph is likely to resonate within wider current biomedical trends toward personalized medicine and molecular diagnostics, and to find a readership among psychiatric practitioners and historians alike.