ABSTRACT
One of the problems that arises in trying to describe the day-to-day practice of psychiatry to people outside the business is that they find it hard to understand how such obviously inappropriate treatment can be handed out while commonsense attempts to help people to talk and to understand their home situations are ignored. Not all psychiatry is of this nature; we have seen some examples of good practice, and more will be given in Chapter 11. Unfortunately, these are the exceptions. Yet the great majority of psychiatric staff are dedicated and hard-working people with a genuine wish to help the people they are paid to care for. So how does it come about that the results are often so damaging? A partial answer is supplied by looking at the training that different mental health professionals receive, which, as I hope to show, actually makes them less rather than more able to help people in mental distress. Setting this in the context of a brief history of psychiatry and examining the role of the drug companies may provide further clues. First, though, it is time to look at the psychiatric system from the point of view of the professionals.
