Communication, the Social Matrix of Psychiatry (Classic Reprint)

Communication, the Social Matrix of Psychiatry (Classic Reprint) Synopsis

Excerpt from Communication, the Social Matrix of Psychiatry

This phenomenon we have related to the more general prob lem of part and whole (1 5 The physician and the psychiatrist, in their work, repeatedly deal with relationships between one cell and the surrounding tissue; one organ within an organism; an individual within the family group; a family within the com munity; and ultimately, perhaps, the community within the framework of the nation, and the nation within the United Na tions. These varied foci of interest are usually watched and studied by different disciplines, all using their own concepts and their separate technical languages. Such divisions, though useful at one stage, can become merely obstructions at a later stage.

Therefore, in order to facilitate progress, we propose to use one single system for the understanding of the multiple aspects of human behavior. As of today, we believe that communication is the only scientific model which enables us to explain physical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cultural aspects of events within one system. By the use of one single system we eliminate the multiplicity of single universes, the multifarious vocabularies, and the controversies which arise because we, the scientists and clinicians, cannot understand each other. To introduce the reader to such a system of explanation in its application to the field of psychiatry the present volume has been written.

At this time the reader may ask what, if any, relationship exists between communication and the variety of topics which are pre sented in this volume. In reply we ask him to bear with us for a little while until such time as we have been able to demonstrate how value theory, psychiatric thinking, and observations about the American culture are intimately connected. We hope to show that these multifarious features which are included under the heading of social matrix are the silent determinants of our means of communication, and that communication is the link which connects psychiatry with all other sciences. It is well to remember that almost all phenomena included under the traditional head ing of psychopathology are disturbances of communication and that such disturbances are in part defined by the culture in which they occur. Contemporary psychiatric theories were imported from Europe by Europeans, and inasmuch as psychiatric theories are implicitly theories of communication, they must undergo modification and progressive change when transplanted from one country to another. Therefore, considerable time and space have here been devoted to an understanding of the American system of communication and its implicit in?uence upon psychiatric practices and thinking.

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