psychiatry

psychiatry /psy·chi·a·try/ (si-ki´ah-tre) the branch of medicine dealing with the study, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders.psychiat´ric

---

biological psychiatry  that which emphasizes physical, chemical, and neurological causes and treatment approaches.

community psychiatry  that concerned with the detection, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders as they develop within designated psychosocial, cultural, or geographical areas.

descriptive psychiatry  that based on the study of observable symptoms and behavioral phenomena, rather than underlying psychodynamic processes.

dynamic psychiatry  that based on the study of emotional processes, their origins, and the mental mechanisms underlying them, rather than observable behavioral phenomena.

forensic psychiatry  that dealing with the legal aspects of mental disorders.

geriatric psychiatry  geropsychiatry.

preventive psychiatry  that broadly concerned with the amelioration, control, and limitation of psychiatric disability.

social psychiatry  that concerned with the cultural and social factors that engender, precipitate, intensify, or prolong maladaptive patterns of behavior and complicate treatment.

---

psy·chi·a·try (s-k-tr, s-)

n.

The branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders.

---

psychiatry

[sīkī′ətrē]

Etymology: Gk, psyche + iatreia, treatment

the branch of medical science that deals with the causes, treatment, and prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Some kinds of psychiatry are community psychiatry, descriptive psychiatry, dynamic psychiatry, existential psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, and orthopsychiatry. psychiatric, adj.

---

psychiatry (sīˈ·kīˑ··trē),

n the modern medical specialty that focuses on understanding; diagnosing; and treating emotional, mental, and behavioral dysfunctions or disorders.

---

psychiatry,

n the branch of medical science that deals with the causes, treatment, and prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

---

psychiatry

The medical specialty concerned with physical and chemical interactions in the brain and how they affect mental and emotional processes; the study, treatment, and prevention of mental illness. See Consultation-liaison psychiatry, Forensic psychiatry, Geriatric psychiatry, Neuropsychiatry, Orthomolecular psychiatry, Orthopsychiatry.