From bedlam to biomarkers: The transformation of psychiatry’s terminology reflects its 4 conceptual earthquakes
I fell in love with psychiatry at age 14. Since then, I have witnessed this medical specialty reinvent itself 4 times. This transformation is unique in medicine, and reflects ultra-rapid changes in understanding the divine complexities of the brain/mind continuum over the past half century.
When I embraced psychiatry in adolescence as my future career, I never imagined, in my wildest dreams, that I would experience such successive scientific earthquakes in my beloved medical specialty. Perhaps that’s what kept me stimulated and eager to come to work every day; I use all the models and treatment tools I have learned in understanding and helping my patients with evolving psychotherapeutic and biopharmaceutical tools; I also teach my students and residents about the multifaceted wonders of the human mind and the magnificent complexities of the brain in health and disease.
Psychiatry has been, and will continue to be, a Pandora’s box of medicine, full of stunning scientific twists and surprises and a transformative lexicon to match.
