Kraepelin

Since the DSM-III (1980), psychiatry has been moving closer to neurology and neuroscience. The majority of psychiatrists have now largely abandoned Freudian explanations for behavior in favor of Emil Kraepelin’s genetic and biological nosology (classification system). In fact, many of the people who were involved with developing the DSM-III called themselves neo-Kraepelinians. Some neurologists and psychiatrists are even talking about a possible eventual merger.

My own psychiatrist, by the way, believes that mainstream psychiatry has too uncritically bought into neuroscience. He sees a lot of the younger psychiatrists as little more than technicians.