Australian Left Review

Article Title

Discussion: Psychiatry or Anti-Psychiatry

Authors

Douglas Kirsner

Abstract

Psychiatry is that branch of medicine which treats patients whose presenting symptoms are mental. Psychoanalysis is only one form of psychiatry. A great number of psychiatrists, regarding psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically oriented theory as “unscientific,” prefer more physically based modes of treatment such as tranquillisers, anti-depressants and electro-convulsive therapy (E.C.T.). Only a small number of people attending psychiatrists receives psychoanalysis or psychoanalytically oriented therapy.