Post-Psychiatry: A New Orthodoxy?

Abstract

This article examines the character and purported aims of post-psychiatry, a new endeavor aimed at linking psychiatry with elements of post-modernity. While not strictly a “movement” in psychiatry, post-psychiatry represents a growing impatience, in some quarters, to conventional approaches to psychiatric practice. It has the potential to challenge established assumptions about what is necessary for the management and care of psychiatric patients and to articulate concerns about the use of coercion in psychiatric practice. In particular, post-psychiatry is responsive to current threats to the perceived hegemony of psychiatry, notably in the increasing acceptance of non-medical approaches to psychological distress and in the internal professional conflicts concerning the diagnosis, treatments for and the social purpose of psychiatry. The article outlines various reflections on the reform of psychiatry and considers some features of the impact of post-modern theory on psychiatry.