History of psychiatry in the United States and Northern Europe since the nineteenth century

Abstract

History of psychiatry knows many sources, which provides for many different possible historical interpretations through the process of selective highlighting. This article provides a brief overview of the history of psychiatry in the United States and Northern Europe since the nineteenth century. Three main paradigms are considered: early biological psychiatry, psychoanalysis and later biological psychiatry. Early biological psychiatry emerged in the nineteenth century and proposed mental diseases had a neurological origin. Early biological psychiatry was followed up by psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis was based on the ideas by Freud about suppressed sexual memories and fantasies. The last paradigm described here is later biological psychiatry. Later biological psychiatry had a focus on quantitative data and differentiating between family and hereditary influence. History of psychiatry is multifaceted, therefore selective highlighting proves itself to be an inescapable problem.