Alienism is an obsolete term for

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...

, the study and treatment of mental illnesses. In the early 20th century this term was replaced by that of

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

. Alienism or alienist may also refer to: * ''Alienist'' (album), a 2016 album by the avant-garde music group Psychic TV *'' The Alienist'', a 1994 crime novel by Caleb Carr ** ''The Alienist'' (TV series), a 2018 U.S. period drama based on the 1994 novel *" O alienista" (translated as "The Psychiatrist" then "The Alienist"), a satiric novella written by the Brazilian author Machado de Assis ** ''The Alienist'' (film), a 1970 Brazilian comedy based on the novella

See also