The Remedicalization of Psychiatry

The remedicalization of psychiatry does not mean the return to a reductionistic biomedical model of psychiatry or the renunciation of psychotherapy and psychodynamics. It does mean the refocusing of scientific advances in neu- robiology and neuroscience as they affect psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, increased psychiatrist involvement in the treatment of the physically ill and in organized medicine, and revitalization of psychiatrists' clinical skills and knowledge through medical education. Within the medical context, the author addresses current problems in psychiatry related to standards, subspecialization, scientific research, and stigma. He sees the development of standars as an essential professional responsibility, considers subspecialization within psychiatry to be inevitable, calls for increased involvement by psychiatrists in scientific research, and warns against permitting the stigma associated with mental illness to further erode psychiatry's boundaries by allowing disorders with an organic etiology to be "given away" to other specialties.