ABSTRACT
Over the course of the Middle Ages, "mental illness" had come to be understood largely in terms of divine or demonic intervention. In the early seventeenth century, Zacchias introduced the analysis of psychological symptoms, syndromes, and diseases. Kraeplin's work is regarded as foundational for the emergence of modern psychiatry, and his commitment to the organic basis of mental illness continues to be reflected in contemporary approaches to diagnosis. The extent to which constructivist thinking can reasonably be applied to the therapeutic relationship appears limited by virtue of the clinical situation itself, just as the extent to which therapeutic practice can claim to reflect a two-person approach to treatment is inevitably limited by the conditions defining treatment. For clinical practice to reflect a genuine concern for the alterity of the patient, a primary commitment to the analysand's individuality must be posited over, and perhaps even sometimes against, the notion of cure.
