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. 2015 Jun;39(3):105-7.
doi: 10.1192/pb.bp.113.046227.

Do psychiatry and neurology need a close partnership or a merger?

Michael Fitzgerald  1
Affiliations

Do psychiatry and neurology need a close partnership or a merger?

Michael Fitzgerald. BJPsych Bull. 2015 Jun.

Abstract

Advances in neuroscience in recent years have blurred the boundaries between psychiatry and neurology. They now have more in common than what divides them and this signals a return to their origins. Many have called for a merger of the two disciplines, which would offer a more holistic approach, whereas others vigorously reject such a move. Limiting neurology to the study of the nervous system and psychiatry to the social brain or affect and its disorders is no longer sustainable. The ongoing separation of the disciplines has had an impact on diagnosis and treatment, on professional isolation and on funding psychiatric research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interest None.

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