The Asclepian rod and the return of Psychiatry to its home in medicine and neuroscience.

Abstract

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) recently adopted the symbol of the rod (or Staff) of Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, embedded within the brain as its logo. The attached sketch by this author was made at the Wayne State School of Medicine in front of which is a statue of Asclepius (Fig. 1). Also shown in the inset is a sketch of the new APA logo. Asclepius, son of Apollo, is said to have lived between 12th and 5th century BC, and was considered as the ideal physician. Temple complexes in ancient Greece, called Asklepions, were centers for healing practices. The staff of Asclepius has a single serpent winding around a rod or tree trunk, and figures as the symbol for many medical organizations around the world, including the World Health Organization. However, some medical organizations use the caduceus with two serpents winding around a winged rod, which is the symbol of Hermes (or mercury, a greeco-roman god. Hermes was associated more with magical incantations rather than medicine; thus, the use of the caduceus as a symbol of medicine has been thought to be erroneous (Wilcox et al., 2003). The APA’s previous logo, since 1921, was the picture of Benjamin Rush, who is considered to be the father of American