“A more perfect arrangement of plants”: The botanical model in psychiatric nosology, 1676 to the present day
Abstract
Psychiatric classification remains a complex endeavour; since the Enlightenment, nosologists have made use of various models and metaphors to describe their systems. Here we present the most common model, botanical taxonomy, and trace its history from the nosologies of Sydenham, Sauvages and Linnaeus; to evolutionary models; to the later contributions of Hughlings-Jackson, Kraepelin and Jaspers. Over time, there has been a shift from explicit attempts to pattern disease classification on botanical systems, to a more metaphorical use. We find that changes in the understanding of plants and plant relationships parallel changes in the conceptualization of mental illness. Not only have scientific discoveries influenced the use of metaphor, but the language of metaphor has also both illuminated and constrained psychiatric nosology.
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Most psychopathological processes and biological links to most mental health disorders remain unknown.
“Despite efforts over the past century (1–3), most psycho- pathological processes and biological links to most mental health disorders remain unknown.”
From Methods and challenges for assessing heterogeneity (2020) · cites this paper as [3]
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“Biomedicine provides prime examples of this form of scientific classification; for more on botanical taxonomies in the history of psychiatric disease nosology, see Mason and Hsin (2018).”
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- Authors
- Mason, D., & Hsin, H.
- Affiliations
- Stanford Health Care (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mason, Daniel
- Venue
- History of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-02-26
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 131-146
- ISSN
- 0957-154X (ISSN-L)
- 1740-2360
- OpenAlex
- W2792056441
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2022: 2 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 1.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- History of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Mental Health and Psychiatry
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › History of Science and Medicine
- Keywords
- psychiatric classification, plant taxonomy, mental illness classification, medical metaphor, Carl Linnaeus, Thomas Sydenham, Kraepelin, Hughlings Jackson, jasper
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Humans, Models, Biological, Plants, Psychiatry, Metaphor, History, 17th Century, History, 18th Century, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century
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