Almeria, Spain

Health, Psychology and Psychiatry

Salud, Psicología y Psiquiatría

Table of contents

⇑Health, Psychology and Psychiatry at UAL

Language: Spanish Studies in Spanish
Subject area: medicine, health care
University website: www.ual.es
Type: PhD/Doctoral programme
Academic degree: Doctor

⇑Definitions and quotes

Health
Health is the ability of a biological system to acquire, convert, allocate, distribute, and utilize energy with maximum efficiency. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined human health in a broader sense in its 1948 constitution as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." This definition has been subject to controversy, in particular as lacking operational value, the ambiguity in developing cohesive health strategies and because of the problem created by use of the word "complete", which makes it practically impossible to achieve. Other definitions have been proposed, among which a recent definition that correlates health and personal satisfaction.
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry.
Psychology
Psychology is the science of behavior and mind, including conscious and unconscious phenomena, as well as feeling and thought. It is an academic discipline of immense scope and diverse interests that, when taken together, seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, and all the variety of epiphenomena they manifest. As a social science it aims to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles and researching specific cases.
Psychiatry
Since this is the age of science, not religion, psychiatrists are our rabbis, heroin is our pork, and the addict is the unclean person.
Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin (New York: 1973), p. 64
Psychiatry
I can't stand feeble, robotic psychiatrists. They give you false drugs and turn you into a zombie.
Ian Brady, as quoted in Evening Standard, Tue 25 June 2013, pp.1-4
Psychology
Psychology appeared to be a jungle of confusing, conflicting, and arbitrary concepts. These pre-scientific theories doubtless contained insights which still surpass in refinement those depended upon by psychiatrists or psychologists today. But who knows, among the many brilliant ideas offered, which are the true ones? Some will claim that the statements of one theorist are correct, but others will favour the views of another. Then there is no objective way of sorting out the truth except through scientific research.
Raymond Cattell (1965). The Scientific Analysis of Personality, Baltimore, MD: Penguin, p. 14.
Privacy Policy