Ethically Sensitive Mental Health Care: Is there a Need for a Unique Ethics for Psychiatry?

Objective: This article takes up the challenge to comment and extend on Jennifer Radden's claims for a ‘unique ethics for psychiatry’ articulated in ‘Notes towards a professional ethics for psychiatry’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 2002; 36:52–59. Method: The author is analytically trained in bioethics and employs the method of conceptual analysis. Results: Psychiatry is a unique mental health care practice which calls for unique ethical responses. However, it doesn't necessarily follow that a unique ethics for psychiatry is required. Conclusions: A more plausible explanation for how philosophical ethics informs the unique nature of psychiatric practice is better articulated within claims about the role-related nature of particular health care practices and the influence that the virtue of phronesis (practical wisdom) has on a clinician's decision-making and judgement.