Department of Neurology

The Department of Neurology medically examines and treats all the diseases occurring from the central nervous system of including cerebrum and spinal cord and from the peripheral nervous system of including cerebral nerve, peripheral nerve and muscles.

Many people don’t know well about what the Department of Neurology does. Many people, some medical people as well as general people, tend to get confused of neurology; thinking that the department of psychiatry treats serious mental diseases and the department of neurology handles minor mental troubles like neurosis. However, neurology as a subject of diagnosing and treating the functional disorders in a nervous system is an area different from psychiatry that treats mental (spiritual) diseases.

The cerebral functional disorders that are caused secondarily by brain tumor or cerebritis should be differentiated from the spiritual problems caused by the conditions such as the problems of adapting to society or family environment and individual personality impediment. Due to the reasons, Korea in 1982 has also separated the Department of Neuropsychiatry into the departments of neurology and of psychiatry.

Therefore, there is no specific subject like neuropsychiatry in Korea and only some medical people use a vague term ‘neuropsychiatry’ from a habit. Also, the division into department of neurology and department of neurosurgery is a difference in the treatment method of internal medicine and surgical operation. In this perspective, the department of neurology can be referred to as an internal medicine for neurology.