What is Psychiatry?
'''Psychiatry''' is a part of [[medicine]] that studies, diagnoses and treats [[mental illness]]es and abnormal [[behavior|behaviours]] and conditions that cause problems and make life difficult for people.<ref>Gelder, M., Gath, D., & Mayou, R. (1989). Oxford textbook of psychiatry. [[Oxford University Press]].</ref><ref>Kaplan, H. I., & Sadock, B. J. (1989). Comprehensive textbook of psychiatry, Vols. 1-2. Williams & Wilkins Co.</ref> The people who practice psychiatry and treat others who have psychiatric problems are called ''psychiatrists''. == Prescribing psychiatric medication == Psychiatrists are medically qualified [[medical doctor|doctors]]. They can legally prescribe [[medication]]s to their patients to help emotional and behavioral problems. This does not apply to psychologists, who are not qualified to prescribe medicines.<ref>Psychologists can only prescribe medication in [[Louisiana]] and [[New Mexico]], which allows [[clinical psychology|clinical psychologist]]s to prescribe medication, with some limits. [http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos056.htm U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104133612/http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos056.htm |date=2012-01-04 }}</ref> Psychiatrists learn about how the body and the brain work. Psychiatrists must learn about all kinds of illnesses. Sometimes a disease in the body causes the brain to work poorly. Cancer in the [[pancreas]] causes depression. Blood sugar problems in [[diabetes]] mellitus can cause a bad temper. These are only two examples. As doctors, psychiatrists learn about how medications can help the brain work better. They also learn how medications sometimes cause problems to the brain. Sometimes psychologists send their patients to a psychiatrist if the patient seems to have a problem that medicine might help. The patient should continue to see the psychologist. In the 1950s, the first medicine to help patients with [[bipolar disorder]] (formally known as manic-depressive illness) was discovered. This was [[lithium]],