This week the Royal College of Psychiatrists issued a public apology for decades of mismanagement and misdiagnosis, saying staff have been too focussed on treating symptoms rather than exploring how past traumatic experiences can still affect patients. 1/
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Today it is reported that having conversations with patients, and involving them and their friends and family in their care has significant benefits. 2/
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It’s 2026 and society is still waking up to the fact that psychiatry is not grounded in the principles of evidence based practice. It does not value meaningful dialogue with patients beyond psychiatric interview for the purpose of medical diagnosis, treatment and review. 3/ Psychiatry still does not see people’s life experiences, and how they make sense of them, as critical to understanding their distress, or how to help. This is not true of all psychiatrists of course, but those that truly embrace psychosocial ways of working remain outliers. 4/4