Phases of Modern American Psychiatry

Abstract

In this paper I will present a dialectic description of twentieth century American Psychiatry. We can distinguish four phases: 1. The Custodial Phase, (from 1900 to the late 1930’s). 2. The phase of emergence of psychiatric treatment (from the 30’s to the late 1950’s). 3. The expansive phase (from the 50’s to the mid-1970’s). 4. The current phase. Obviously, the deliniation of these phases is not sharp or concise. In discussing these phases, I will follow a simple scheme of who (the therapist) does what (diagnostic and therapeutic methods) to whom (the patient).