Place Of Psychiatry Research Articles

Autonomy and medical aid in dying: the place of psychiatry

Autonomy has become the highest value in our society, and while it is having an impact on the debate on a future law on medical assistance in dying, it is also opening the door to a reflection on vulnerability. Although seemingly unaffected, at least initially, psychiatry could join the field of this reflection and bring out the avenues of renewal.

1166 – What is the place of psychiatry in the current economic crisis?

The effects of the current global economic crisis on Mental Health will have maximum impact in the forthcoming years. However, based on the experience of previous financial crises, factors such as unemployment, the reduction of mental health services due to austerity measures imposed by governments among other factors, will most likely lead to increased rates of psychiatric illness and suicide. In this context, there might be an increase in the prevalence of disorders related to alcohol consumption and other substances. Based on a review of literature on this subject, the authors propose a reflection about the possible consequences of the current economic crisis on Mental Health.

A Memoir of a Sojourn as Editor of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry

I am delighted and honoured to be part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. It is also an honour to accompany the recollections of former editors Fred Lowy and Quentin Rae-Grant. One of my enduring memories of my time as editor was the assistance that I could call on from members of the Canadian psychiatric community, the Editorial Board, and the previous editor, Fred Lowy. My time as editor, which spanned more than a decade and a half, was a period of activity, work, and fulfillment. Let me first discuss the structure of the Journal and its relation to the Association as it was when I started and as it was when I left. To begin with, the editor had full control over what happened at the Journal: a glass wall existed between the Journal and the Association, although both bodies occupied small offices in an area about the size of a 1 - or 2-bedroom apartment on the ground floor of a small apartment house-cumoffice building in the centre of Ottawa. I must point out that the Association itself was still quite young and feeling its way, numbers in psychiatry had not yet begun to swell, and the place of psychiatry in medicine was still being worked out and was often felt to be problematic. Where editorial issues were concerned, the relation between the Journal and the Board was always cordial and respectful. That is to say, the Association never took any sort of proprietary approach to material published in the Journal. The Board chair at the time was Stan Greben, and he always respected our autonomy. Next in line were the managing editor of the Journal and the executive secretary of the Association. A certain amount of jostling went on as to whether the Association's executive had a supervisory position vis-a-vis the Journal. However, this never affected the editorial process. My predecessor, Fred Lowy, gave me several insights into the relation between the Journal and the Association. Fred told me that, despite any disputes with the Association, there was never any attempt to influence the Journal 's direction, policy, and decisions. In all the years during which I was associated with the Journal and the Association, this continued to be true-which is not to say that this relatively hands-off policy kept the Board chair, the president, other members of the Association, and the executive director from giving advice. Moreover, that advice was almost always positive. In addition to our managing editor, we had an assistant who acted as a copy reader as well as a secretary. There was also a book review editor who was chosen from Ottawa because of the need to visit the office and assign book reviews. When I began my tenure as editor, the Journal dimensions were less than three-quarters those of the current publication, and there was little variation in the cover colour. No headlines appeared on the cover, which was, as I recall, a conservative grey. The matter of the publication's size preoccupied the creative efforts of the editor, the managing editor, and the printing house. The current dimensions were finally adopted to position the Journal as a contemporary journal. With a change in dimensions, its appearance became more consistent with that of other evolving journals. The increased size also improved the readability of figures and tables. As well, the name was changed. The Canadian Psychiatric Association Journal, La Revue de l'Association des Psychiatres du Canada became The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, La Revue Canadienne de Psychiatrie. The name change was accomplished without any difficulty and introduced at the beginning of the publishing year. In time, cover space was used to identify and highlight an issue's articles and themes; small changes followed in accordance with evolving trends in the field of publishing. For a long time, a big problem was the need to have the Journal 's cover appear in consistent colours from issue to issue; for some reason this was not an easy task, but eventually, standardization was achieved. …

Irina Sirotkina, Diagnosing literary genius: a cultural history of psychiatry in Russia, 1880–1930, Medicine and Culture series, Baltimore and London, John Hopkins University Press, 2002, pp. ix, 269, £33.50 (hardback 0-8018-6782-7)

Irina Sirotkina, Diagnosing literary genius: a cultural history of psychiatry in Russia, 1880–1930, Medicine and Culture series, Baltimore and London, John Hopkins University Press, 2002, pp. ix, 269, £33.50 (hardback 0-8018-6782-7) - Volume 48 Issue 1

Response to ‘Medicine, Psychiatry and Euthanasia’

The article by Malcolm Parker [1] attempting to examine the place of psychiatry in active voluntary euthanasia is a disturbing and difficult piece of work. Its tone is so profoundly antimedical and...

Globalizing Disaster Trauma: Psychiatry, Science, and Culture after the Kobe Earthquake

In January of 1995 a massive earthquake struck the city of Kobe, Japan. This article examines how this event became an opportunity for extending global networks of the science and medicine of trauma. The article is based on ethnographic research in Kobe and Los Angeles with psychiatrists who responded to the earthquake in its immediate aftermath. Three aspects of the process are examined: 1) changes in psychiatric institutions that were ongoing at the time of the earthquake, 2) the place of psychiatry in Japanese cultural self‐criticism, and 3) the particular technologies for identifying and treating trauma. Globalization in this case cannot be seen as an imposition of Western cultural forms, but rather an ongoing process that reproduces differences between cultures as particular elements travel between them.

The Place of Psychiatry in Colonial and Early Postcolonial Zimbabwe

The history of psychiatry in Zimbabwe is interwoven with histories of struggle: struggles to impose a colonial social order, struggles to resist and do away with that social order, struggles to forge a new nation. What follows here is an exploration into the ways in which mental illness was known and treated in colonial Zimbabwe and how disparate social orders, colonial states and newly independent nations, have sought to define, contain, and repair disorders of the mind and social body. By examining how discourses and practices pertaining to mental illness have overlapped with those of power and authority, I expose how the discipline of psychiatry and the place of the asylum are important sites of struggle and contestation over space (the body, the hospital, and the nation) and meaning (What is mental illness/disorder anyway? What does it mean to recover?). When Zimbabwe achieved its independence in 1980, a new national narrative was forged. The treatment and management of those deemed insane, the nature of the spaces set aside for them, became part of the collective memory of pain and injustices and provided a point of demarcation between them/before and us/now. The actions of the first black Minister of Health, at the moment of independence from colonial rule, illustrate this point. For Dr. Herbert Ushewokunze, the state of mental health care was both a powerful signifier and a cause for concern. Having been overall commander of the Army Medical Corps for the Zimbabwe

Adaptive, Eclectic and Democratic: An Alternative Year 2020 Vision of the Place of Psychiatry

It was the end of the academic year in 2020. On the third floor of the Southern Health University's administrative building, the five Vice-Chancellors of the Health Universities were gathering. Outside it was raining, but the patter of drops on the window only served to enhance the coziness of the meeting room. This annual event would take three days. The Vice-Chancellors enjoyed this meeting. They seldom saw each other during the busy academic year and under Professor Hope Brightview's 6 years of chairmanship they had been able to work well together to formulate a rational and profitable distribution of teaching, research and consultation services.

Psychiatry and paedophilia: a major public health issue.

The aim of this study was to provide a brief review of current perspectives on paedophilia as well as some suggestions regarding the place of psychiatry in dealing with the problem. A literature survey was conducted. Child sexual abuse has unfortunately been ignored and minimised by psychiatry until recently. The current evidence strongly indicates that it is a common event which is highly likely to cause both short- and long-term harm to its victims. The perpetrators generally are psychiatrically otherwise 'normal' men who are skilled at both planning their offending behaviours and denying their existence. Psychiatrists have an important role to play in assessment and treatment of both offenders and victims, although they may have to learn new clinical skills. Their preventative role is also important, particularly in the field of public education.

A Sense of Proportion: The Place of Psychiatry in Medicine

Psychiatric disorders have a high prevalence in medical and surgical patients and the need for an effective liaison psychiatry service is widely accepted. However, the development of liaison psychiatry may be jeopardised by the trend towards establishing psychiatric facilities in the community rather than in hospitals. Alternative methods of funding may need to be established if the future of liaison psychiatry is to be safeguarded.

Management of the sexually abused child

This review considers the place of psychiatry in the complex area of management of the sexually abused child. A model is described in order to guide psychiatric perspectives in the field of child sexual abuse, before describing an approach to management in mental health teams.

On the edge: ward-rounds in a South African psychiatric emergency department.

Psychiatry, like other institutions in South Africa, is affected by issues of race. An examination of ward-rounds in a South African psychiatric emergency department, however, revealed that as important to an understanding of this unit is the recognition of the place of psychiatry in biomedicine. A key feature affecting staff in the unit was the fact of psychiatry's marginality relative to general medicine. Race was seldom and obliquely discussed, but played an important contributory role. Work towards the transformation of psychiatric care in a democratic South Africa must consider the institutional level as well as the more obvious question of racial inequality.

A randomized controlled study of psychiatric consultation guided by screening in general medical inpatients

The purpose of the study was to test the hypothesis that psychiatric consultation would reduce health care utilization during and after medical hospitalization. A randomized, double-controlled clinical trial of psychiatric consultation was conducted on the general medical inpatient services of a university hospital. After meeting inclusion criteria, 1,541 patients were screened for depression, anxiety, confusion, and pain over a period of 21 months. The 741 patients with high levels of psychopathology or pain were subdivided into baseline control subjects (N = 232), contemporaneous control subjects (N = 253), and an experimental consultation group (N = 256). The major outcome measures were length of hospital stay and hospital costs. Secondary outcome measures were posthospital health status, rehospitalization rates, and use of outpatient medical care. This study did not demonstrate an effect of experimental psychiatric consultation on hospital resource use or posthospital medical care utilization after adjustment was made for disease severity. Hospital resource use decreased in the entire sample over the 21-month duration of the study. The brief, efficient screen for anxiety, depression, confusion, and pain identified a group of patients who also used more hospital resources, but a single experimental psychiatric consultation did not reduce costs. The double-controlled nature of the design proved essential to avoid being misled by background changes in hospital resource use.

Multiproblem Families and Their Psychiatric Significance

The characteristics of multiproblem families are described, and the investigations in a research project are reported. A note is made of their epidemiological significance. Reasons are suggested as to why they have received little psychiatric attention. In particular their child upbringing practices, including child rearing and learning disorders, are described. The psychiatry of inadequacy is considered and the validity of the various diagnoses used. Finally it is suggested that the place of psychiatry in their care should be reconsidered and that a better knowledge of social handicap should be acquired.

Psychiatry and Medicine, 1973

Major changes have occurred since World War I in both the place of psychiatry in medical education and the education of the psychiatrist. The number of psychologists and their kinds of service have grown. The concerns of psychiatry are shifting from the problems of neurosis to those of psychosis and those in the community. Psychiatry has gained more responsibility for care in general hospitals. More conceptual models now offer a wider theoretical base for research and care. Some current developments may be going in the wrong direction, but today's crisis offers chances for fruitful new developments.

The place of psychiatry and medical concepts in the treatment of offenders: a layman's view.

The place of psychiatry and medical concepts in the treatment of offenders: a layman's view.

The Place of Psychiatry in Probation

The Place of Psychiatry in Probation

Transatlantic Discussion: The Place of Psychiatry in Medicine To-day [Abridged

Transatlantic Discussion: The Place of Psychiatry in Medicine To-day [<i>Abridged</i>

Law as an Instrument of Mental Health in the United States and Soviet Russia

Much has been written in recent decades about place of psychiatry in the and especially about the need to incorporate into the law insights derived from psychiatric research. Far too little attention has been given, however, to the closely related question of the place of law in psychiatry and the need to incorporate into psychiatry insights derived from legal research. Law is not merely a fact of social life; it is also a body of ideas. Implicit in legal concepts, and often explicit in them as well, are theories of human personality. Moreover, both through de facto operation and through its concepts and theories, law-like psychiatry-seeks to influence human personality. In helping to maintain social order, law at the same time and by the same token helps to maintain the mental health of the members of society. Those who think of the road from psychiatry to law as simply a one-way street are misled, I believe, by the sharp distinction which is often drawn between the lawyer's concern with social order and the psychiatrist's concern with personality. In one of the best expositions of what law may learn from psychiatry, we are told that focus of the law is on society primarily, and only secondarily on the individual; in psychiatry the emphasis is almost exclusively on the individual. 1 But the truth is that society and the are really two dimensions of the same thing-man. The law, at least, cannot separate the two, and psychiatry separates them at its peril. The word individual is, in fact, quite misleading, for it suggests an isolated being sufficient unto himself and devoid of relationships with others. Psychiatrists are concerned, of course, not with individuals in this abstract sense but with real people, people who have mothers and fathers, husbands or wives, children, friends, teachers,

The place of psychiatry in medicine

The place of psychiatry in medicine