Posted by viridis on November 29, 2002, at 20:50:18
In reply to There is no science in psychiatry, posted by ItsHowdyDudyTime on November 29, 2002, at 15:05:18
Modern psychiatry is a mix of science, art, skill and experience. There are good and bad psychiatrists, just like in any field. The science side of it is progressing quickly,and in the next 5-10 years we'll almost certainly see the development of specific, DNA-based tests for many conditions that will narrow down the range of possible treatments on an individual basis. Meanwhile, psychiatrists do the best they can, and the good ones have pretty high success rates -- not much different from specialists in other fields (oncology, cardiology, etc.).
I think this is a time to be very optimistic -- some of us already have good treatments, and the chances of improvement for others will increase dramatically in the coming years.
poster:viridis
thread:129589
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021127/msgs/129970.html