Psychogenesis: central concept of the disciplines of the mind?

Abstract

To contemporary neuroscience the concept of psychogenesis and all psychogenetic explanations are nonsense. Work on psychogenesis undertaken by the Cambridge group disagrees with the concept of mental disorder proposed by neuroscientific reductionism because it: 1) offers too narrow a view of the concept of mental disorder; and 2) does not do justice to its cultural complexity as shown by epistemological, historical and clinical research. The study of psychogenesis will help with the understanding and ethical management of many mental disorders. In due course, psychiatrists will have to decide whether these are to be considered as mere brain diseases or as complex hybrid phenomena combiningbrain localization, symbolic conflict and cultural configuration (psychogenesis). It seems clear that in the future therapy will only bedefined as ethical when it is made to target the primary source of the disorder (which can be brain pathology or semantic conflict).