Psychiatry and Ideology
1973 ◽
Vol 18
(2)
◽
pp. 147-151
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Keyword(s):
Throughout history psychiatric ideas have been shaped by prevailing ideological frameworks. The development of psychiatric theory and practice has not been a simple progression but has oscillated wildly with each change in the cultural climate. Contemporary psychiatry is divided into a number of ideological camps, each reflecting aspects of the fragmented modern zeitgeist. Allegiance to any one system carries the danger of sacrificing the care of patients to attain theoretical consistency. Psychiatrists must accept the uncertainties of the eclectic position and abandon Utopian attempts to resolve the ambiguities of the human condition.