Organic unity theory: An integrative mind-body theory for psychiatry

Journal/Book: Theor Med. 1997; 18: Spuiboulevard 50, PO Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publ. 357-378.

Abstract: The potential of psychiatry as an integrative science has been impeded by an internal schism that derives from the duality of mental and physical. Organic unity theory is proposed as a conceptual framework that brings together the terms of the mind-body duality in one coherent perspective. Organic unity theory is braided of three strands: identity, which describes the relationship between mentally described events and corresponding physically described events; continuity, which describes the linguistic-conceptual system that contains both mental and physical terms; and dialectic, which describes the relationship between the empirical way of knowing that is associated with the physical domain of the linguistic-conceptual system and the hermeneutic way of knowing that is associated with the mental domain. Each strand represents an integrative formulation that resolves an aspect of mental-physical dualism into an underlying unity. After the theory is presented, its implications for psychiatry are briefly considered.

Note: Article Goodman A, Minnesota Inst Psychiat, St Paul,MN 55105 USA

Keyword(s): integrative psychiatry; biopsychosocial; mind-body; philosophy (of science); psychoanalysis; hermeneutic; MODEL

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