Psychiatry

from greek: psyche - soul and iatros - doctor, first used by Johann Christian Reil in 1808
German: Psychiatrie

1 Definition

Psychiatry, a branch of medicine, covers the research, prevention, diagnostic and therapy of mental disorders. It is closely related to other discplines such as psychology and neurology for research and treatment. A doctor in psychiatry ist called a psychiatrist.

2 Subspecialties

There are several subspecialties linked to psychiatry, such as:

• Forensic psychiatry - working in the interface between law and medicine (e.g. determination of comptency to stand trial)
• Biological psychiatry - biological approach to understand mental disorders where the research is conducted interdisciplinary (e.g. with neuroscience or genetics)
• Geriatric psychiatry - study, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders of elderly people
• Child and adolescent psychiatry - diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents and their families
• Social psychiatry - includes an interpersonal and social context of mental disorders