Psychiatry, Is It Now Okay?-Enlarging the Boundary of Psychiatry in the Neuroscience Era

ABSTRACT

The authors, in this paper, addressed a variety of problems and difficulties which Korean psychiatrists should cope with. The surprising development of neurosciences, splitting of neuropsychiatry into neurology and psychiatry, easygoing attitude of psychiatrists, changes in the delivery system of health care and ill-balanced education of psychiary were listed as causes of or contributors to them. Social bias to psychiatry and regulations from outside are also considered as contributors. Psychiatric education, including medical school, residency training, continuing medical education and psychiatric textbooks, need to be changed in order to enlarge the boundary of psychiatry. Reestablishment of identity of psychiatry and psychiatrist is unavoidable, considering far-reaching new knowledge of neuroscience and gradually invisible borderzone between neurology and psychiatry. The other ways worth while to consider are the expansion of psychiatrists' activities, development of medical behavioral science to a clinical specialty, creation of new psychiatric subspecialties, and additional training of psychiatric residencies in the primary medical care.