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A Brief Glossary of Concepts I hope that this glossary assists readers in understanding my use of certain terms in this book. These definitions are not meant to be exhaustive but may provide some shorthand as readers seek to understand these concepts that are more fully spelled out in the text. Also please note that words are defined as they apply in this book, not with the meanings that might be more commonly used. I have left nuances out for the sake of brevity. Again, readers should read these comments only as markers, signposts, not complete definitions, for which they should turn to the text itself. Biopsychosocial model: This whole book is the definition of this model. But a brief starting point definition might be the notion that all illness has biological, psychological , and social aspects. Varying further interpretations from this starting point can be found in the work of George Engel and Roy Grinker and others, as further described in the text. Contrast with medical humanism. See its role in psychiatry in eclecticism. Dogmatism: The view that a single method or theory explains all, or most, of psychiatry . Eclecticism: A model that views any theory or method as potentially correct, but no theory or method as definitively incorrect. More is better. All theories should be used together. The choice of method is based on doctor or patient preference or values. In political analogy: anarchism. See contrast with pluralism and methodbased psychiatry. Erklären: Causal explanation. The method of empirical science, identifying causes and effects in the real world of experience. An objective, third-person perspective . Associated with statistics and biological experimentation in psychiatry. Attends to general, not unique, aspects of phenomena. Contrasts with Verstehen. Evidence-based medicine: For the purposes of this book, the view that Erklären-based positivistic science can produce truth. Basically, an instantiation of biological dogmatism. Contrasts with method-based psychiatry. General systems theory: A philosophy of biology used by proponents of the biopsychosocial model as a means to provide conceptual grounding, so as to avoid “anything goes” eclecticism. General systems theory argues that an organism can be understood only as a complex of a multiple systems not at any one level of those systems (i.e., not just at the molecular level but through appreciating how the molecular level translates to function at the organ level). Most associated with the work of Ludwig von Bertalanffy. Medical humanism: A model of medicine that combines biological reductionism about disease with a humanistic appreciation for the person who has the disease. Most associated with the work of William Osler. Its psychiatric application is found, in my view, in the work of Karl Jaspers. Contrasts with biopsychosocial model. Metaphor: The use of a visual image or concrete object to signify the meaning of a word. It is believed that most, if not all, words have metaphors rooted in their etymology. In current usage, metaphors are contrasted with abstract language, which consists of imageless concepts such as good or truth. Mathematical symbols are pure abstractions Method: The means by which psychiatric theories are derived. How we understand psychiatry. In psychoanalysis, for instance, the key method is free association. Multiple theories are derived from that method, but one understands those theories best by approaching them initially from what they share in common as a method. Based on Jaspers’s dictum: “Between fact and method no sharp line can be drawn.” Contrast with theory. Method-based psychiatry: Focuses on methods, rather than content, believing that methods determine content. The right method should be used for the appropriate condition or illness. Contrast with evidence-based medicine. A synonym for pluralism (see below). Pluralism: Also could be termed “method-based psychiatry.” The view that certain methods are more correct than others for specific conditions or circumstances. Less is more. Use methods purely, combine them sequentially, not simultaneously . Only one theory or method is correct, but it is not the same for all aspects of psychiatry. Choice of method is based on empirical data if available and on conceptual soundness otherwise. One must justify one’s choice of method conceptually or empirically; it is not a matter of mere preference. In political analogy: law-governed liberal democracy. See contrast with eclecticism. Positivism: The view of science in which facts stand by themselves, separate from theories and methods. The view that inductive experience can lead to absolute truth. Contrast with pragmatism, postmodernism, and pluralism. Postmodernism: The...

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