Van Laere J
Verh K Acad Geneeskd Belg. 1989;51(1):5-29.
Neurology and psychiatry differ from the other branches of medicine by their narrow implication with the nervous system. However, owing to the quantitative importance of neuroses in daily practice, an unbridgeable gap might appear between psychiatry, concerning the mind, and neurology, concerning the body. That gap cannot be justified, because the most psychogenic mental disease is associated with organic components and, on the other side, the most organic mental disorder is associated with psychological components; failing to appreciate purely psychical disturbances as preliminary symptoms of certain organic brain-disorders may have a fatal issue for the patient. Only the organic investigation, in the broadest sense of the term, of the nervous system may, in our time, allow an always closer approach to the background of psychiatric diseases that were considered, in earlier times, as purely psychogenic. The author chose Alzheimer's disease as an instance of the necessary intercourse between psychiatry and neurology. The author discusses the epidemiology, the symptomatology, the anatomopathology, the biochemistry and the therapy of this disease. In comparison with the course of things concerning Parkinson's disease, we may be sure that our knowledge concerning Alzheimer's disease will depend upon a narrow collaboration between psychiatry and the different branches of neurology.
神经病学和精神病学与医学的其他分支不同，因为它们与神经系统的联系较为局限。然而，由于神经症在日常医疗实践中的数量之多，在关注精神的精神病学和关注身体的神经病学之间可能会出现一道无法弥合的鸿沟。这种鸿沟是不合理的，因为最具心因性的精神疾病与器质性成分相关，另一方面，最具器质性的精神障碍也与心理成分相关；未能将纯粹的精神障碍视为某些器质性脑部疾病的初步症状可能会给患者带来致命后果。在我们这个时代，只有从最广义的角度对神经系统进行器质性检查，才可能让我们越来越接近那些在早期被认为纯粹是心因性的精神疾病的根源。作者选择阿尔茨海默病作为精神病学和神经病学之间必要互动的一个例子。作者讨论了这种疾病的流行病学、症状学、解剖病理学、生物化学和治疗方法。与帕金森病的情况相比，我们可以确定，我们对阿尔茨海默病的认识将取决于精神病学与神经病学不同分支之间的密切合作。
