mind–body problem
the problem of accounting for and describing the relationship between mental and physical processes (psyche and soma). Solutions to this problem fall into six broad categories: (a) interactionism, in which mind and body are separate processes that nevertheless exert mutual influence (see Cartesian dualism); (b) parallelism, in which mind and body are separate processes with a point-to-point correspondence but no causal connection (see occasionalism; preestablished harmony); (c) idealism, in which only mind exists and the soma is a function of the psyche; (d) double-aspect theory, in which body and mind are both functions of a common entity (see neutral monism); (e) epiphenomenalism, in which mind is a by-product of bodily processes; and (f) materialism, in which body is the only reality and the psyche is nonexistent. Categories (a) and (b) are varieties of
dualism; the remainder are varieties of monism. In the context of psychopathology, two central questions arising from the mind–body problem are which sphere takes precedence in the genesis and development of illness and how does each sphere affect the other. Also called body–mind problem.