The medical model approach to psychiatry emphasizes the importance of the diagnostic process and the scientific method to best understand the clinical symptomatology and natural history, genetics, pathophysiology, and treatment of symptoms and syndromes afflicting an individual patient.<sup>8 Black K., Guze S.B. Psychiatry and the medical model Washington University Adult Psychiatry St. Louis: Mosby (1997).  3-14

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références, 14 Guze S.B.   Why Psychiatry Is a Branch of Medicine New York: Oxford University Press (1992). 

Cliquez ici pour aller à la section Références</sup> Thus, a medical model psychiatrist is taught to follow the scientific trail.

Our understanding of psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, is rapidly expanding as a result of advances in brain imaging, molecular biology, molecular and population genetics, biostatistics, and epidemiology. Major progress is being made in the rational development of new psychopharmacologic agents for these disorders including entirely new classes of drugs. Psychiatrists have an obligation to keep current with such advances.

Of all the illnesses that come to the attention of psychiatrists, some of the most dramatic advances have been made in the understanding of Alzheimer's disease. It is feasible that the pathophysiologic underpinnings of this disorder will be elucidated before those of other psychiatric disorders. Thus, psychiatric education regarding Alzheimer's disease could serve as a paradigm for the future; that is, the approach to be applied to other psychiatric disorders as they become better understood. Yet, many general psychiatrists may not be abreast of the advances in Alzheimer's disease. As a result, they may find it difficult to be prepared for the future when similar advances are attained in our understanding of other psychiatric disorders.

This article reviews some of the exciting progress in the understanding of Alzheimer's disease underscoring the value of the expertise of the well-trained, medical model psychiatrist in addressing this disease, while emphasizing the importance of incorporating such an approach in the residency and continuing education of psychiatrists. After a brief historical review, the article focuses on four areas: diagnosis, clinical symptomatology, pathophysiology, and treatment.