Should the 2020s be the Psychiatric Decade of the Social? A Debate

Abstract

Although the biopsychosocial has been the primary model in medicine and psychiatry for decades, there has been increasing concern over whether it is comprehensive enough and/or whether each of the categories get enough attention. For example, the bio, standing for the biological, has received the most attention in the new millenium in most countries. However, the relative neglect of the social component may be causing significant omissions of understanding and interventions in providing mental health care for patients and the public. Most recently, that has become clear in the global coronavirus pandemic in its social spread, contagion of fear, escalation of various psychiatric problems, and disparities in receiving care. Indeed, this journal is a crucial globally social way to communicate to our colleagues and reverse this trend.