The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to psychiatry:

Psychiatry – medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive, and perceptual abnormalities.

What type of thing is psychiatry?

• Academic discipline – field of study with academic departments, curricula and degrees; national and international societies; and specialized journals.
• Scientific field (a branch of science) – widely recognized category of specialized expertise within science, and typically embodies its own terminology and nomenclature. Such a field will usually be represented by one or more scientific journals, where peer-reviewed research is published.
  • A natural science – field that seeks to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world using empirical and scientific methods.
  • A biological science – a branch of biology, which is concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.^[1]
  • A behavioural science – a branch of psychology, which is concerned with the study of the emotional and cognitive functions of the mind and brain and of the person in the context of society.
• A medical specialty – branch of clinical practice, practised by physicians, psychologists, nurses, social workers, etc.

Branches of psychiatry

Subspecialties of psychiatry

• Addiction psychiatry – focuses on evaluation and treatment of individuals with alcohol, drug, or other substance-related disorders, and of individuals with dual diagnosis of substance-related and other psychiatric disorders.
• Child and adolescent psychiatry – branch of psychiatry that specialises in work with children, teenagers, and their families.
• Cross-cultural psychiatry – branch of psychiatry concerned with the cultural and ethnic context of mental disorder and psychiatric services.
• Emergency psychiatry – clinical application of psychiatry in emergency settings.
• Forensic psychiatry – interface between law and psychiatry.
• Geriatric psychiatry – branch of psychiatry dealing with the study, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders in humans with old age.
• Liaison psychiatry – branch of psychiatry that specializes in the interface between other medical specialties and psychiatry.
• Military psychiatry – covers special aspects of psychiatry and mental disorders within the military context.
• Neuropsychiatry – branch of medicine dealing with mental disorders attributable to diseases of the nervous system.
• Social psychiatry – branch of psychiatry that focuses on the interpersonal and cultural context of mental disorder and mental wellbeing.

Approaches of psychiatry

• Biological psychiatry – approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorders in terms of the biological function of the nervous system.
• Community psychiatry – approach that reflects an inclusive public health perspective and is practiced in community mental health services.^[2]
• Global Mental Health – area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving mental health and achieving equity in mental health for all people worldwide.^[3]

History of psychiatry

• History of psychiatry

General psychiatry concepts

• Glossary of psychiatry
• Mental disorder
  • Classification of mental disorders
  • History of mental disorder
• Mental Health

Psychiatric practice and standards

Doctor-patient relationship

• Therapeutic relationship

Nosological system

• Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
• International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems

Psychiatric diagnoses

• ADHD
• Bipolar disorder
• Mania
• Schizophrenia
  • History of schizophrenia
  • Dementia praecox

Instruments

• Mental status examination

Diagnostic practices

• Rosenhan experiment

Psychiatric treatment

• Treatment of mental disorders

Chemical treatment

• Anxiolytics
  • Barbiturates
• Antidepressants
  • SSRI
• Antipsychotic
• Chemical imbalance theory
• Mood stabilizers
• Psychiatric medication
• List of psychiatric medications
• List of psychiatric medications by condition treated

Physical treatment

Electroconvulsive therapy

• Electroconvulsive therapy
  • History of electroconvulsive therapy in the United Kingdom

Insulin coma therapy

• Insulin shock therapy (defunct)

Psychosurgery

• Psychosurgery
  • Lobotomy (defunct)
  • Lobotomy instruments
    • Leucotome
    • Orbitoclast
  • Lobotomy patients
    • Howard Dully

Fever therapy

• Pyrotherapy (defunct)

Psychological treatment

• Psychotherapy
• List of psychotherapies

Legal frameworks of psychiatric treatment

• Diminished responsibility
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Informed consent
• Insanity
• Insanity defence
• Involuntary commitment
• Involuntary treatment
• Irresistible impulse
• M'Naghten Rules
• Macdonald triad
• Mens rea
• Mental health law
• Obligatory Dangerousness Criterion
• Outpatient commitment
• Psychiatric advance directive
• Sanity
• Therapeutic jurisprudence
• Ulysses pact
• Voluntary commitment

Australia

• Justices examination order
• Mental Health Review Tribunal of New South Wales

Ireland

• 1814-1922
  • Criminal Lunatics (Ireland) Act 1838
• From 1922–present
  • Mental Health Act 2001

Italy

• Basaglia Law
• Law 180

U.K.

• Care in the Community
• Criminal Lunatics Act 1800
• Idiots Act 1886
• Fixated Threat Assessment Centre
• Lunacy Act 1845
• Lunacy (Vacating of Seats) Act 1886
• Madhouses Act 1774
• Place of safety

England and Wales

• Approved Mental Health Professional
• Diminished responsibility in English law
• Mental Capacity Act 2005
• Mental Health Act 1983
• Mental Health Act 2007
• Mental Health Review Tribunal (England and Wales)
• Mental Treatment Act 1930
• Nearest relative

Scotland

• Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000
• Forensic Network
• Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003
• Mental Health (Public Safety and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 1999

U.S.A.

• Adjudicative competence
• Civil confinement
• Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act
• Competence (law)
• Duty to protect
• Duty to warn
• Forensic Mental Health Association of California
• List of criminal competencies
• Mental health courts
• PsychRights
• Ultimate issue (law)
  • Californian mental health law
    • 5150 (Involuntary psychiatric hold)
  • Florida mental health law
    • Florida Mental Health Act: the Baker Act

Politics of psychiatry

Political movements

• Psychiatric survivors movement

Anti-psychiatry movement

• Anti-psychiatry

People in the anti-psychiatry movement

• Franco Basaglia
• David Cooper (psychiatrist)
• Michel Foucault
• R.D. Laing
• Loren Mosher
• Thomas Szasz

Anti-psychiatry publications

• Against Therapy
• Anti-Oedipus
• Liberation by Oppression: A Comparative Study of Slavery and Psychiatry
• Madness and Civilization

Anti-psychiatry organisations

• American Association for the Abolition of Involuntary Mental Hospitalization

Psychiatric Institutions

General

• Asylums (book)
• Psychiatric hospital
  • History of psychiatric institutions
• Deinstitutionalization
• Psychiatric reform in Italy
• Titicut Follies

Australian psychiatric institutions

• List of Australian psychiatric institutions

Psychiatric organizations

• American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
• American Psychiatric Association
• American Neuropsychiatric Association
• Brazilian Association of Psychiatry
• Canadian Psychiatric Association
• Chinese Society of Psychiatry
• Democratic Psychiatry
• German Society of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Neurology
• Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists
• Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia
• Indian Psychiatric Society
• Irish College of Psychiatrists
• Israeli Psychiatric Association
• Italian Psychiatric Society
• Japanese Society of Psychiatry & Neurology
• Korean Neuropsychiatric Association
• Maryland Psychiatric Society
• National Institute of Mental Health
• Pakistan Psychiatric Society
• Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
• Royal College of Psychiatrists
• Singapore Psychiatric Association
• South African Society of Psychiatrists
• World Psychiatric Association

Psychiatry publications

Persons influential in psychiatry

Psychiatrists

• List of psychiatrists

Academic psychiatrists by country

• Ireland
  • Patricia Casey
  • Anthony Clare