Are neurology and psychiatry the same thing in Chinese?

[beirne]

I wanted to learn the Chinese word for neurologist, but kept getting the word for psychiatrist in my dictionary. Both neurology and psychiatry have the same basic word, 精神病学 (jīngshénbìngxué). In Chinese practice is psychiatry purely limited to physical treatments and considered a branch of neurology?

[Publius]

What dictionary are you using?

All my English-Chinese dictionaries give me 神經學，神經病學 (shénjīngbìngxué) for neurology.

[Guest123]

神经学 or 神经内科 -- neurology; 精神病学 -- psychiatry 

It is maybe more the problem of your dictionary, not of chinese practice ;) 

 

[beirne]

OK, I went through my dictionaries and sorted things out. Part of the problem for me was keeping the various combinations of jing and shen straight. The big problem lies, though, in the ABC English-Chinese dictionary. It has 神经病学家 in for neurologist in the E-C dictionary, but if I look up the characters in the C-E dictionary I get psychiatrist. It looks like the C-E entry is incorrect. I'll need to submit a correction.

 

 

Chinese-English

 

神经学

Neurology

• CEDICT
• ABC C-E

神经内科

Not in any of my dictionaries

 

精神病学

Psychiatry

• CEDICT
• ABC C-E

 

神经病学

Psychiatry

* ABC C-E

 

 

English-Chinese

Neurology

神经病学

• ABC E-C
• 21st Century
• NWP E-C

神经学 -

• 21st Century
• Tuttle E-C

 

Psychiatry

精神病学

• ABC E-C
• 21st Century
• NWP

 

 

 

[Publius]

Yes, ABC C-E needs correction.

 

To a modern reader, 神經 'nerve' is a concrete thing one can see and touch. It's a technical term mostly, as are 神經元 'neuron' and 神經系統 'nervous system'. Even when 神經 is used in a metaphorical sense, it's often associated with such adjectives like 粗, 大條, 纖細, etc. -- 糸 being fiber after all.

精神 on the other hand, is an abstract concept. It's synonymous with 'spirit' or 'mood'. One uses adjectives like 飽滿, 高漲, 亢奮, etc. to describe it.

In colloquial speech however, 神經病 is used disparagingly or jokingly to refer to a crazy person. 精神病 is the correct medical term if one wants to discuss mental disorders seriously. 神經病 medically means 神經系統病變 'pathological changes in the nervous system'.

 

P.S. 神經內科 is a compound of 神經 + 內科, in contrast with 神經外科. In hospital it's sometimes abbreviated to 神內.

[lips]

Of course, in casual conversation you use 神经病 for "(he's) crazy" and not 精神病。