Neuropsychiatry is a division of medicine that treats psychological disorders caused by brain injuries and nervous system diseases. It is the interface of neurology and psychiatry which has become a budding subspecialty of psychotherapy. It deals with cognition and behavior disorders caused due to brain damage or brain infection of diverse etiologies.
Origin of Neuropsychiatry
Around the middle part of 1800s, some doctors in Germany started to call themselves neuropsychiatrists. Until then, psychiatry and neurology were considered the same field. Around the beginning of the 1900s, neurology and psychiatry mostly divided into physical and emotional territories. However, today’s neuropsychiatry differs greatly from the earlier specialty.
Who Are Neuropsychiatrists?
Neuropsychiatrists are often referred to as behavioral neurologists who work hand-by-hand with other neuroscience physicians, such as neurosurgeons or neurologists. They work to offer comprehensive patients’ care within the multi-disciplinary environment setup.
Neuropsychiatrists are highly-skilled physicians who are educated at medical schools and have specialized in an extremely difficult area. Their education background includes two main disciplines of medicine, neurology and psychiatry.
Most neuropsychiatrists focus on pathology of the brain at the medical psychiatric and neurological levels. They are the clinicians who specialize in handling difficulties, evaluating prognosis, and prescribing medicines.
Usually, neuropsychiatrists will carry out dedicated neuropsychiatric assessments. They will use comprehensive structured history by taking medically amplified questionnaires and will use standardized tests for particular patients.
Neuropsychiatric assessments involve evaluations of higher brain cortical functions and incorporation of brain symptomatology. This includes sequential lobe phenomena, associations with psychiatric and neurological diagnoses and suitable prescriptions, and numerous clinically pertinent neuropsychiatric checks. The evaluations also count on neuropsychological checks and measures, such as ambulatory electroencephalography.
Who Are Considered Neuropsychiatric Patients?
Neuropsychiatric patients are the sufferers of neuropsychiatric disorders and medical conditions that have to do with the function of the brain. These can include:
– Seizures.
– A wide range of emotional, behavioral, or cognitive troubles.
– Brain injuries that result in disruption of the proper brain functions.
– Migraines or headaches with depression, mood changes, or anxiety.
– Movement muddles like tardive dyskinesia with related physiological and psychiatric factors.
– Infections that affect the brain.
Even though behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry are believed to be the same area of expertise, the main initial directions of specialty may be different. Usually, neuropsychiatrists will come to this area of expertise through psychiatry. On the other hand, behavioral neurologists will come to the area of through neurology.
