‘Public psychiatry’: a neglected professional role?

Abstract

The importance of mental health to our social, financial and physical well-being has gained better recognition in recent years. The work of psychiatry is to understand, prevent and treat mental illness, and should therefore be of compelling interest to the public. Yet few care about the profession or practice of psychiatry other than psychiatrists themselves. The public and the profession would both benefit from a ‘conversation’ about practical, moral and political aspects of contemporary mental health. This should be a dialogue of equals, distinct from didactic approaches to ‘public education’ or from a ‘media psychiatry’ that exists primarily to entertain. This discourse would help to improve care, diminish stigma, promote recovery and improve the status of the profession itself. This article proposes that this kind of ‘public psychiatry’ should take its place as one of four interdependent professional domains.