Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in the socio-economic constellation of the 21st century

Abstract

The paradigms of psychiatry accepted in the latter part of the 20th century have been undermined by developments in medicine and by socio-economic trends. Among these trends, that shape society and psychiatry, are the commodification of medicine, rampant urbanization, the horizontalization of communication, and the fragmentation of labour and professional disciplines.
Their effects, together with advances in knowledge about mental illness and approaches to its management, make it necessary to re-examine the priorities of psychiatry and the goals and methods of treatment.