Psychiatry is on the couch and must look at issues such as its relationship with ‘Big Pharma’.
For any form of therapeutic intervention to work to its maximum potential it is crucial that there is a high degree of trust and confidence on the part of the client or patient. This is particularly true in the case of psychiatry, psychology and the various forms of psychotherapy. Psychiatry is now facing a significant struggle in this arena.
Historically, psychiatry has experienced many challenges and is often seen as playing second fiddle to the rest of medicine. US psychiatrist Daniel Carlat of Tufts University in Boston says: “There is no question that among the medical professions, psychiatry is the most scientifically primitive. We have no more than a rudimentary understanding of the pathophysiology of mental illness and we have resorted to tenuous and ever-shifting theories of how our treatments work.”
The latest criticism was precipitated by the impending publication in May 2013, of the fifth edition of theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). There has been much criticism of the proposed content and of the processes and personnel involved.
Source: Paul O'Donoghue, Irish Times, 12/08/2011
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