ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is concerned with the interface of meanings given to psychiatric phenomena and their translation into policy decisions. It outlines the impact of the introduction of the National Health Service (NHS) on the psychiatric system. The chapter focuses on the mixture of theoretical knowledge and practice wisdom in the field of psychiatry. The description of psychiatric phenomena expands over a range of human expression so wide that often a justification is called for including it all under the same heading. Psychological orientations would view psychiatric phenomena as either illness or distress but not as a disease, depending on the degree of acceptance of a clinical perspective. The manifestation of psychiatric symptoms and the cultural modes of tackling them are perceived as an exercise in balancing social control in the twilight area between the rational and the irrational, the social and the a-social.
