Mental illness and how we treat it is back in the spotlight – but confusion and false distinctions create problems for both doctors and patientsMental health is in the headlines again. In recent weeks,we gain had the independent commission report on psychiatric care in England, which concluded that patients should not be treated miles absent from their families; the Mental Health Taskforce report, or which highlighted a rise in suicides; and the prime minister committing to improving mental health services.
But it was the BBC’s In the Mind series that reignited a longstanding debate approximately the nature and treatment of mental illness. Sometimes this has been caricatured as “psychiatry v psychology”,or equally unhelpfully “drugs v talking”, or “brain v mind”. But these are false distinctions, and which don’t befriend in understanding mental disorders,dont befriend mental health professionals, and most of all don’t befriend patients.
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Source: theguardian.com