The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common language and standard criteria. It is the main book for the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders in the United States and is considered one of the principal guides of psychiatry, along with the ICD, CCMD, and the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual. However, not all providers rely on the DSM-5 as a guide, since the ICD's mental disorder diagnoses are used around the world and scientific studies often measure changes in symptom scale scores rather than changes in DSM-5 criteria to determine the real-world effects of mental health interventions.
There was systematic political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union, based on the interpretation of political opposition or dissent as a psychiatric problem. It was called "psychopathological mechanisms" of dissent.
Forensic psychiatry is a subspeciality of psychiatry and is related to criminology. It encompasses the interface between law and psychiatry. According to the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, it is defined as "a subspecialty of psychiatry in which scientific and clinical expertise is applied in legal contexts involving civil, criminal, correctional, regulatory, or legislative matters, and in specialized clinical consultations in areas such as risk assessment or employment." A forensic psychiatrist provides services – such as determination of competency to stand trial – to a court of law to facilitate the adjudicative process and provide treatment, such as medications and psychotherapy, to criminals.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental health problems. The college provides advice to those responsible for training and certifying psychiatrists in the UK.
Eric Cunningham Dax, AO, FRACP, FRANZCP, HonFRCPsych was a British-born Australian psychiatrist.
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of deleterious mental conditions. These include various matters related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is a nonprofit organization established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Its stated mission is to "eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections." Many critics regard it as a Scientology front group whose purpose is to push the organization's anti-psychiatric agenda.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) is the principal organisation representing the medical specialty of psychiatry in Australia and New Zealand and has responsibility for training, examining and awarding the qualification of Fellowship of the College (FRANZCP) to medical practitioners.
The Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) is the oldest professional association of psychiatrists in India. Founded during the 34th Indian Science Congress, IPS replaced the Indian division of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association.
Political abuse of psychiatry, also commonly referred to as punitive psychiatry, is the misuse of psychiatry, including diagnosis, detention, and treatment, for the purposes of obstructing the human rights of individuals and/or groups in a society. In other words, abuse of psychiatry is the deliberate action of having citizens psychiatrically diagnosed who need neither psychiatric restraint nor psychiatric treatment. Psychiatrists have been involved in human rights abuses in states across the world when the definitions of mental disease were expanded to include political disobedience. As scholars have long argued, governmental and medical institutions code menaces to authority as mental diseases during political disturbances. Nowadays, in many countries, political prisoners are sometimes confined and abused in psychiatric hospitals.
Mental health in Russia is covered by a law, known under its official name—the Law of the Russian Federation "On Psychiatric Care and Guarantees of Citizens' Rights during Its Provision", which is the basic legal act that regulates psychiatric care in the Russian Federation and applies not only to persons with mental disorders but all citizens. A notable exception of this rule is those vested with parliamentary or judicial immunity. Providing psychiatric care is regulated by a special law regarding guarantees of citizens' rights.
Graeme C. Simsion is a New Zealand-born Australian author, screenwriter, playwright, and data modeller, best known for his first novel The Rosie Project.
Anirudh Kala, is an Indian psychiatrist based in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. He had been an active participant in the Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) for forty years and had raised awareness about mental health legislation and related issues among Indian psychiatrists. He is clinical director of The Mind Plus, an acute psychiatric care clinic in Ludhiana. Kala is founding president of the Indian Association of Private Psychiatry and founding president of Indo-Pak Punjab Psychiatric Society. The latter is a cross border initiative forging links between mental health professionals of Indian and Pakistani Punjab provinces. Partly based on interactions with Pakistani colleagues and visits to mental health institutes he wrote an anthology of short stories, The Unsafe Asylum: Stories of Partition & Madness. A novel, "Two and a Half Rivers' about the nineteen eighties' militancy in Punjab was published in 2021. A non-fiction book "Most of What You Know About Addiction Is Wrong" meant for common readers and policy makers was published in March 2023 by Speaking Tiger Books.
Psychiatry is, and has historically been, viewed as controversial by those under its care, as well as sociologists and psychiatrists themselves. There are a variety of reasons cited for this controversy, including the subjectivity of diagnosis, the use of diagnosis and treatment for social and political control including detaining citizens and treating them without consent, the side effects of treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy, antipsychotics and historical procedures like the lobotomy and other forms of psychosurgery or insulin shock therapy, and the history of racism within the profession in the United States.
The Rosie Effect is a 2014 novel by Australian novelist Graeme Simsion and the second book of a trilogy including the previous instalment, The Rosie Project, and its sequel, The Rosie Result. The work was first published on 24 September 2014 in Australia / New Zealand by Text Publishing and the rights have since been sold in 24 other territories. International sales are more than 1 million copies. In the United States the novel was published through Simon & Schuster and in the United Kingdom through Penguin Books. The novel centres on Don Tillman, a socially awkward genetics professor, and his preparation for fatherhood.
The Best of Adam Sharp is a 2016 novel by Australian novelist Graeme Simsion. The work was first published on 19 September 2016 in Australia / New Zealand by Text Publishing. English-language rights have been sold worldwide. Translation rights have been sold in Czech, Estonian, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Dutch, and Polish. Movie rights have been optioned to Vocab Films with Toni Collette attached to play the role of Angelina.
Two Steps Forward is a 2017 novel by Australian husband and wife novelists Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist. The work was first published on October 2, 2017 in Australia and New Zealand by Text Publishing. The novel follows two dissimilar people, Zoe and Martin, as their paths cross during a 2000 kilometre walk on the Camino de Santiago.
The Rosie Result is a 2019 novel by Australian novelist Graeme Simsion. The work was first published on 5 February 2019 by Text Publishing.
Hussein al-Abri, an Omani writer of short stories and novels, born in 1972. He is a psychiatrist and works at the General psychiatric Hospital in Muscat. Abri has published 5 novels, short stories and numerous articles. He won the "Beirut 39" festival of Hay Festival Foundation in cooperation with the Lebanese Ministry of Culture 2009.
