The good psychiatrist

Abstract

There is a general belief that anyone undertaking the arduous task of becoming a doctor is aspiring to be a ‘good’ doctor and that those going on to become psychiatrists are wanting to be ‘good’ psychiatrists. It is difficult to understand why anyone would want to be a ‘bad’ doctor, or a ‘bad’ psychiatrist. Do we ‘become’ bad by default, lack of attention, or when attitude and personality clash with patient aspiration and societal pressures? Richard Smith, editor of the British Medical Journal, is widely quoted: ‘Think how surprised we would be by a community of 130,000 (the number of doctors in Britain) where nobody committed serious crimes, went mad, misused drugs, slacked on the job, became corrupt, lost competence, or exploited their position’ (Smith, 1997).