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Causal Explanations in Psychiatry: A Critique of Some Current Concepts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Per Dalén
Per Dalén*
Affiliation:
University of Göteborg Psychiatric Research Centre, St. Jörgen Hospital, Hisings Backa, Sweden
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Extract

The rules known as Koch's postulates have served as invaluable guides to the discovery of the specific causes of various infectious diseases. It may safely be assumed that their influence has also been great on the methods of study in the field of non-infectious diseases. For example, with slight modification Koch's postulates may be applied to the study of diseases caused by poisons. But can they be modified and applied with profit in psychiatric research? This is an important problem, and it cannot be discussed without reference, explicit or implicit, to philosophical assumptions. In this paper some consequences of the philosophy of science of Sir Karl Popper will be tentatively explored.

Type
Theoretical
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 115 , Issue 519 , February 1969 , pp. 129 - 137
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1969 

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