Fabrega H
Department of Psychiatry and Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA 15213-2593.
Am J Psychiatry. 1989 May;146(5):588-96. doi: 10.1176/ajp.146.5.588.
Although psychiatry is part of Western biomedicine and its roots in neurobiology are widely appreciated, Anglo-American psychiatry addresses social behavior that is deviant and potentially stigmatizing and is said to uniquely engage in social control. Moreover, its concerns overlap and compete with those of other regulatory institutions of the state. For these reasons, the manner in which psychiatry operates is subject to challenge, criticism, and controversy. The author proposes that a look at psychiatry from the vantage point of ethnomedicine--the comparative study of medical systems--can enhance an appreciation of the current controversies in psychiatry and psychiatry's role as a medical institution.
尽管精神病学是西方生物医学的一部分，且其在神经生物学方面的根源已广为人知，但英美式精神病学关注的是偏离常态且可能带来污名化的社会行为，据说它独特地参与了社会控制。此外，它所关注的问题与国家其他监管机构的问题相互重叠且存在竞争。基于这些原因，精神病学的运作方式受到质疑、批评和争议。作者提议，从民族医学——医学体系的比较研究——的角度审视精神病学，有助于加深对当前精神病学争议以及精神病学作为医疗机构所起作用的理解。
