The Future of Psychiatry and Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Paradigm Shift

Abstract

A paradigm shift is now taking place in psychiatry with the emphasis on neu- rodevelopmental disorders with a neurobiologic emphasis and early onset includ- ing autism, ADHD, learning disability, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This paradigm superseded the attachment paradigm of the second half of the twentieth century with so many misguided theories such as, “blaming the mother”—the so- called refrigerated mother and the schizophrenogenic mother. The new paradigm allows more focused treatment interventions.