| H.M. van Praag has been suggesting a reappraisal of syndromes in
psychiatry for over 20 years. He has tried to define syndromes
originating from the same biochemical disorder. He has denoted this
concept as 'functional psychopathology'. As an example of such a
functional syndrome, he has cited the serotonin-shortage syndrome
which unifies various psychiatric symptoms under a new point of view.
The treatment of the serotonin-shortage syndrome is best served by
psychopharmaca which raise the metabolism of serotonin in the
synaptic cleft, e.g. the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors.
Borrowing F. Freyhan's concept of 'target symptoms', one can now
speak of 'functional target syndromes', within the frame of
functional psychopathology.
|