Abstract

Psychiatry is a branch of medicine, and medicine has its roots in scientific empiricism. Scientific modernism, a product of the Enlightenment, has come under considerable fire from critics, often labelled as postmodern (Muir Gray, 1999; Bracken & Thomas, 2001; Laugharne, 2002). These criticisms include a portrayal of science as a ‘grand narrative’ that reduces reality to a material, measurable world, which follows rational rules, and excludes the non-measurable and non-material. The idea of the objective observer is questioned, because all observers have some interest in what is being observed. Also, multiple views of reality are seen as necessary to understand different perspectives, and the idea that scientific knowledge should ‘trump’ other forms of experience is criticised. This has been described by Bracken in the following way.

Highlights

  • Psychiatry is a branch of medicine, and medicine has its roots in scientific empiricism

  • He goes on to say that these criticisms are not a rejection of Enlightenment values and ideals, but a concern to understand their limitations

  • The support of evidence-based medicine has been seen as an advance in knowledge within psychiatry

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Summary

Introduction

Psychiatry is a branch of medicine, and medicine has its roots in scientific empiricism. Such criticisms have implications for how psychiatry may develop in the 15 years, and in this article the issues of knowledge, trust, power and choice are addressed. The support of evidence-based medicine has been seen as an advance in knowledge within psychiatry.

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