Posted by pseudoname on July 2, 2006, at 8:39:40
I haven’t seen the book, but a review in Harvard Magazine of David Brendel’s new book "Healing Psychiatry: Bridging the Science/Humanism Divide" lays out four pragmatic principles to improve clinical psychiatry. He is head of psych residency at Mass Gen and McLean hospitals.
“The science is there, and we need to be able to apply the science, of course,” he says. “But we also need to be aware that the person we’re talking to may not fit into the schemas that we’re using at any particular time.” The field’s current scientific tools … do not adequately address the variable forms and causes of emotional and mental suffering.
Brendel says psychiatrists need to be…
• PRACTICAL – by focusing on good clinical outcomes for patients rather than on rigid application of “evidence-based” treatments,
• PLURALISTIC – by considering a wide range of treatment approaches,
• PROVISIONAL – by not taking any “evidence” too seriously because it is likely to change with further study and clinical experience, and
• PARTICIPATORY – by co-constructing treatment decisions with the patient.He also says that even in a hundred years, psychiatry will not have clear-cut diagnoses, no matter how much we learn about neurology or genetics.
(Review at http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/070647.html Jul-Aug ’06, with a longer article on psychiatric diagnosis.)
poster:pseudoname
thread:663492
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060701/msgs/663492.html