Modern Treatment of Mental Disorders.

June 28: Address by Dr. R. W. Medlicott, Psychiatrist, Porirua Mental Hospital.

Dr. Medlicott first stressed that the mind and the body were inter-related aspects of the one organism—Man. Mental disorders were classified into three groups, (1) mental deficiency—a group for which little could be done; (2) insanity, or psychoses, being (a) organic psychoses where some physical brain alteration can be detected, (b) functional psychoses where no physical brain alteration can be detected, and (c) delusional states, such as terrors; (3) emotional tensions or neurotic maladjustments. Recent advances in the understanding of the functioning of the brain are enabling great advances to be made in the treatment of mental patients. Both psychological and physiological methods had to be used in treatment. Preventive psychiatry attempts to get to patients at an earlier stage in the onset of disorders. Social, psychological, and physical stresses must all be taken into account in the treatment of each individual case. Psychotherapy involves an analysis of the patient's history and faulty reactions to life. The patient himself must work to become well. The speaker then described various methods of treatment, such as narco-analysis, endocrine treatment, shock therapy and insulin shock therapy. Psycho-surgery involves the cutting of certain