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Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and
treatment of mental disorders—which include various affective,
behavioural, cognitive and perceptual disorders. The term was first
coined by the German physician Johann Christian Reil in 1808. It
literally means the 'medical treatment of the mind' (psych-: mind; -iatry:
medical treatment; from Greek: to heal).
Neuropsychiatry is the branch of medicine dealing with mental
disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system. It
preceded the current disciplines of psychiatry and neurology, in as
much as psychiatrists and neurologists had a common training.
However, neurology and psychiatry subsequently split apart and are
typically practiced separately. Nevertheless, neuropsychiatry has
become a growing subspecialty of psychiatry and it is also closely
related to the field of behavioral neurology, which is a
subspecialty of neurology that addresses clinical problems of
cognition and/or behavior caused by brain injury or brain disease.
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the
nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and
treatment of all categories of disease involving the central,
peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their
coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue, such as muscle.
The corresponding surgical specialty is neurosurgery. A neurologist
is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to
investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders. Pediatric
neurologists treat neurological disease in children. Neurologists
may also be involved in clinical research, clinical trials, as well
as basic research and translational research.
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