The author draws on personal experience and a review of the literature
to summarize the current state of psychiatric practice and education in
Saudi Arabia and its relationship to other medical specialties. Although
psychiatry is not accorded the status that it has in the West and there is
a drastic undersupply of psychiatrists, the specialist practicing in Saudi
Arabia has a unique opportunity to integrate ancient beliefs, customs, and
laws with modern knowledge and technology in a county where the emphasis is
on a stable transition from being governed almost entirely by religious
precepts to being a new world power.Abstract Teaser