The Medical Evaluation of Psychiatric Patients : Springer : 9780306429576 : 0306429578 : 31 Oct 1988 : One of the fascinations of psychiatry is that it is amenable to many different approaches. In seeking to account for mental disorder, for example, it is pos­ sible to explore the meaning and significance of symptoms in the psychody­ namic sense, to examine the social determinants of illness, or to adopt an es­ sentially biological viewpoint in investigating links between physiological and psychological dysfunction .. As a clinical discipline it may be practiced in the community, in the specialized clinic or hospital, or shoulder-to-shoulder with other medical practitioners in the general hospital. This richness and diversity are at once a strength and a weakness, attracting practitioners with a wide range of talents and interests, yet sometimes leading to polarizations and false an­ titheses. The so-called "medical model" of psychiatry has come under a good deal of attack, and deserve