Focusing on the definition, scope, and role of psychiatry today, the
author discusses whether psychiatry is primarily medical, whether it is
overstepping its boundaries in attempting to treat problems of living, and
whether it is too involved with social questions. On the basis of an
examination of the current scientific base of psychiatry, he predicts that
psychiatry will continue to grow in size and diversity, that it will
refocus substantially on biological issues, that it will become more humble
about what it can do with regard to social problems, and that it will
continue to yield new therapeutic measures and techniques.Abstract Teaser