Thursday, June 09, 2011

Psychiatric classic

Nice to see that the BMJ in its Views & Reviews series regards Arthur Kleinman's Rethinking psychiatry as a medical classic. I include it my critical psychiatry website book recommendations page.

A focus on culture arises out of the combination of anthropology and psychiatry. Indigenous healing systems worldwide use nonspecific symbolic techniques to counteract demoralisation. Kleinman promotes a paradigm shift in medical and psychiatric practice to create a robust relationship between psychiatry and the social sciences.

The review was written by a junior doctor (in anaesthetics) who says he was left "uninspired by the basic sociology taught at university". Rethinking psychiatry invigorated a renewed interest for him. This confirms what I said in a previous post about what might attract young doctors into psychiatry.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sirs,
This (click link) takes schizophrenia to other horizons. Now medical electronics companies spend to enter into psychiatry field. That will drain future governments budgets for real help to mentally ills.
CarloDJ