Biomaterial Database

The ten most important changes in psychiatry since World War II. 2014

Mark S Micale

University of Illinois msmicale@illinois.edu.

Writing the recent history of a subject is notoriously difficult because of the lack of perspective and impartiality. One way to gain insight and understanding into the recent past of a discipline of knowledge is to consult directly the living practitioners who actually experienced first-hand the major changing circumstances in the discipline during the period under study. This article seeks to explore the most significant changes occurring in Western, and especially American, psychiatry from the end of World War II up to the present by interrogating a representative selection of psychiatrists and psychologists about the subject. Over a three-year period, the author surveyed approximately 200 mental health experts on their perceptions of change in the world of psychiatric theory and practice during this enormously eventful 70-year period. After presenting the survey results, the article then attempts to analyse the answers that the author did (and did not) obtain from his poll-taking subjects.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011570	Psychiatry	The medical science that deals with the origin, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders.
D011572	Psychoanalysis	The separation or resolution of the psyche into its constituent elements. The term has two separate meanings: 1. a procedure devised by Sigmund Freud, for investigating mental processes by means of free association, dream interpretation and interpretation of resistance and transference manifestations; and 2. a theory of psychology developed by Freud from his clinical experience with hysterical patients. (From Campbell, Psychiatric Dictionary, 1996).	Psychodynamic Analysis,Analyses, Psychodynamic,Analysis, Psychodynamic,Psychodynamic Analyses
D011619	Psychotropic Drugs	A loosely defined grouping of drugs that have effects on psychological function. Here the psychotropic agents include the antidepressive agents, hallucinogens, and tranquilizing agents (including the antipsychotics and anti-anxiety agents).	Psychoactive Agent,Psychoactive Agents,Psychoactive Drug,Psychopharmaceutical,Psychopharmaceuticals,Psychotropic Drug,Psychoactive Drugs,Agent, Psychoactive,Agents, Psychoactive,Drug, Psychoactive,Drug, Psychotropic,Drugs, Psychoactive,Drugs, Psychotropic
D003688	Deinstitutionalization	The practice of caring for individuals in the community, rather than in an institutional environment with resultant effects on the individual, the individual's family, the community, and the health care system.	Deinstitutionalized Persons,Deinstitutionalized Person,Person, Deinstitutionalized,Persons, Deinstitutionalized
D006716	Homosexuality	The sexual attraction or relationship between members of the same SEX.	Homosexuality, Ego-Dystonic,Ego-Dystonic Homosexuality,Homosexuality, Ego Dystonic
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D049673	History, 20th Century	Time period from 1901 through 2000 of the common era.	20th Century History,20th Cent. History (Medicine),20th Cent. History of Medicine,20th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 20th Century,History of Medicine, 20th Cent.,History, Twentieth Century,Medical History, 20th Cent.,Medicine, 20th Cent.,20th Cent. Histories (Medicine),20th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 20th (Medicine),Cent. History, 20th (Medicine),Century Histories, 20th,Century Histories, Twentieth,Century History, 20th,Century History, Twentieth,Histories, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 20th Century,Histories, Twentieth Century,History, 20th Cent. (Medicine),Twentieth Century Histories,Twentieth Century History
D049674	History, 21st Century	Time period from 2001 through 2100 of the common era.	21st Century History,21st Cent. History (Medicine),21st Cent. History of Medicine,21st Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 21st Century,History of Medicine, 21st Cent.,History, Twenty-first Century,Medical History, 21st Cent.,Medicine, 21st Cent.,21st Cent. Histories (Medicine),21st Cent. Medicines,21st Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 21st (Medicine),Cent. History, 21st (Medicine),Cent. Medicine, 21st,Cent. Medicines, 21st,Century Histories, 21st,Century Histories, Twenty-first,Century History, 21st,Century History, Twenty-first,Histories, 21st Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 21st Century,Histories, Twenty-first Century,History, 21st Cent. (Medicine),History, Twenty first Century,Medicines, 21st Cent.,Twenty-first Century Histories,Twenty-first Century History