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A lively exploration of mind and brain, conscious and unconscious, patient and client.
In this companion volume to their widely acclaimed Perspectives of Psychiatry, Phillip R. Slavney, M.D., and Paul R. McHugh, M.D., argue that the discontinuity of brain and mind is the source of much of psychiatry’s discord, for it leads psychiatrists to think about their discipline in terms of polar opposites: conscious or unconscious; explanation or understanding; paternalism or autonomy. Psychiatric Polarities brings together the history of ideas and such clinical issues as suicide and bipolar disorder to...
A lively exploration of mind and brain, conscious and unconscious, patient and client.
In this companion volume to their widely acclaimed Perspectives of Psychiatry, Phillip R. Slavney, M.D., and Paul R. McHugh, M.D., argue that the discontinuity of brain and mind is the source of much of psychiatry’s discord, for it leads psychiatrists to think about their discipline in terms of polar opposites: conscious or unconscious; explanation or understanding; paternalism or autonomy. Psychiatric Polarities brings together the history of ideas and such clinical issues as suicide and bipolar disorder to identify, describe, and debate these and other polar oppositions that arise from psychiatry’s inherent ambiguity.
There is no single conceptual perspective that is sufficient for all of psychiatry’s concerns, Slavney and McHugh observe, yet it is both possible and necessary to transcend the denominational conflicts that plague the field. In Psychiatric Polarities, their examination of these conflicts demonstrates how a methodological approach can help to resolve disagreements rooted in partisan commitments.
edited by Rebecca Pope-Ruark and Lee Skallerup Bessette foreword by Katie Rose Guest Pryal
Publication Date: August 26, 2025
Reviews
Reviews
A brief and gracefully written set of essays about a few of the philosophical controversies that have shaped current psychiatric thought... The authors appear to wish to give psychiatry back its 'soul,' and they make a strikingly cogent case that this is a necessary step in its reconstruction.
— Hospital and Community Psychiatry
[I]t is essential to revisit the fundamental thinking that underlies psychiatry. The clearly written, carefully detailed chapters of Polarities provide an essential foundation in satisfying this need.
Preface Part 1 The Ambiguity of Psychiatry 1. Psychiatry's Domain 2. Mind & Brain Part 2 Attempting ot Dea with Ambiguity 3. Explanation & Understanding 4. Conscious & Unconscious Part 3 Implications of
Preface Part 1 The Ambiguity of Psychiatry 1. Psychiatry's Domain 2. Mind & Brain Part 2 Attempting ot Dea with Ambiguity 3. Explanation & Understanding 4. Conscious & Unconscious Part 3 Implications of Ambiguity for the Conduct of Psychiatrists 5. Hebraic & Hellenic 6. Patient & Client 7. Autonomy & Paternalism Part 4 Conclusion 8. The Ambiguity of Psychiatry Notes Index
Phillip R. Slavney, M.D., is the Eugene Meyer III Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the author of Psychiatric Dimensions of Medical Practice, coeditor of The Primary Care Physician's Guide to Common Psychiatric and Neurologic Problems, and coauthor of The Perspectives of Psychiatry, all available from Johns Hopkins.
Paul R. McHugh, M.D., is the Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, the former director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the coauthor of The Perspectives of Psychiatry, also available from Johns Hopkins. He was selected by President George W. Bush to sit on the Presidential Council on Bioethics and by the U.S...