Theoretical Psychiatry as a Link Between Academic and Clinical Psychiatry.

Abstract

From its beginning, psychiatry has been always characterized by different orientations in the forms of "schools", "fields", "branches", etc., some of which were dominating during different periods of time. Today psychiatry seems to be in cul de sac of a serious scientific crisis and in the midst of the paradigm clashes. Academic psychiatry has been more and more criticized to be more or less irrelevant to clinical practice. The new field called theoretical psychiatry is fundamental for further scientific and professional maturation of psychiatry at the twenty-first century. Theoretical psychiatry pursues knowledge and understanding of mental disorders, and it operates so through the formulation, testing, and evaluation of theories. Digital revolution is changing significantly all fields of science, medicine, and psychiatry changing regimes and methods of knowledge production. Big data approach promises to provide the scientific holy grail in psychiatry, a single overarching theory or multiple theories and models that unify all the scientific disciplines. Brain is place where biological, psychological, social, and spiritual mechanisms meet each other and interact. Theoretical psychiatry should give all psychiatrists a common language, build bridges over academic gaps, and creatively export insights across disciplinary borders.