Psychiatric Ethics

Overview of psychiatric ethics III: principles-based ethics

by Christopher Ryan

Robertson, M., C. J. Ryan, and G. Walter. 2007. Overview of psychiatric ethics III: principles-based ethics. Australasian Psychiatry 15  (4): 281-286.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to consider the application of principlebased medical ethics to psychiatry. more Objective: The aim of this paper is to consider the application of principlebased medical ethics to psychiatry.

Conclusions: Principles-based medical ethics is a useful tool for resolving ethical dilemmas in psychiatry in that clinical aspects of ethical dilemmas can be better articulated than in other methods. The ethical dilemmas unique to psychiatry, such as those related to impairment of autonomy, present a challenge to the method. After considering a case example, we conclude that psychiatrists can best utilise a principles based approach to ethical dilemmas when they combine this with a level of critical reflection in the light of other ethical theories, such as virtue ethics, as well as close consideration of the clinical and social context of the ethical dilemma.

Overview of psychiatric ethics IV: the method of casuistry

by Christopher Ryan

Robertson, M., C. J. Ryan, and G. Walter. 2007. Overview of psychiatric ethics IV: the method of casuistry. Australasian Psychiatry 15  (4): 287-291.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to describe the method of ethical analysis known as casuistry and consider its... more Objective: The aim of this paper is to describe the method of ethical analysis known as casuistry and consider its merits as a basis of ethical deliberation in psychiatry.

Conclusions: Casuistry approximates the legal arguments of common law. It examines ethical dilemmas by adopting a taxonomic approach to 'paradigm' cases, using a technique akin to that of normative analogical reasoning. Casuistry offers a useful method in ethical reasoning through providing a practical means of evaluating the merits of a particular course of action in a particular clinical situation. As a method of ethical reasoning in psychiatry, casuistry suffers from a paucity of paradigm cases and its failure to fully contextualize ethical dilemmas by relying on common morality theory as its basis.

Notes on a Few Issues in the Philosophy of Psychiatry

by Ajai Singh

Mens Sana Monographs 2009

The first part called the Preamble tackles: (a) the issues of silence and speech, and life and disease; (b) whether we... more The first part called the Preamble tackles: (a) the issues of silence and speech, and life and disease; (b) whether we need to know some or all of the truth, and how are exact science and philosophical reason related; (c) the phenomenon of Why, How, and What; (d) how are mind and brain related; (e) what is robust eclecticism, empirical/scientific enquiry, replicability/refutability, and the role of diagnosis and medical model in psychiatry; (f) bioethics and the four principles of beneficence, non-malfeasance, autonomy, and justice; (g) the four concepts of disease, illness, sickness, and disorder; how confusion is confounded by these concepts but clarity is imperative if we want to make sense out of them; and how psychiatry is an interim medical discipline.
The second part called The Issues deals with: (a) the concepts of nature and nurture; the biological and the psychosocial; and psychiatric disease and brain pathophysiology; (b) biology, Freud and the reinvention of psychiatry; (c) critics of psychiatry, mind-body problem and paradigm shifts in psychiatry; (d) the biological, the psychoanalytic, the psychosocial and the cognitive; (e) the issues of clarity, reductionism, and integration; (f) what are the fool-proof criteria, which are false leads, and what is the need for questioning assumptions in psychiatry.
The third part is called Psychiatric Disorder, Psychiatric Ethics, and Psychiatry Connected Disciplines. It includes topics like (a) psychiatric disorder, mental health, and mental phenomena; (b) issues in psychiatric ethics; (c) social psychiatry, liaison psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, forensic psychiatry, and neuropsychiatry.
The fourth part is called Antipsychiatry, Blunting Creativity, etc. It includes topics like (a) antipsychiatry revisited; (b) basic arguments of antipsychiatry, Szasz, etc.; (c) psychiatric classification and value judgment; (d) conformity, labeling, and blunting creativity.
The fifth part is called The Role of Philosophy, Religion, and Spirituality in Psychiatry. It includes topics like (a) relevance of philosophy to psychiatry; (b) psychiatry, religion, spirituality, and culture; (c) ancient Indian concepts and contemporary psychiatry; (d) Indian holism and Western reductionism; (e) science, humanism, and the nomothetic-idiographic orientation.
The last part, called Final Goal, talks of the need for a grand unified theory.
The whole discussion is put in the form of refutable points.

The right not to know: the case of psychiatric disorders

by Lisa Bortolotti

Co-authored with H Widdows - published in 2011 in the Journal of Medical Ethics

This paper will consider the right not to know in the context of psychiatric disorders. It will outline the arguments... more This paper will consider the right not to know in the context of psychiatric disorders. It will outline the arguments for and against acquiring knowledge about the results of genetic testing for conditions such as breast cancer and Huntington’s disease, and examine whether similar considerations apply to disclosing to clients the results of genetic testing for psychiatric disorders such as depression and Alzheimer’s disease. The right not to know will also be examined in the context of the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders which are associated with stigma or for which there is no effective treatment.

Depression under stress: ethical issues in genetic testing

by Ainsley Newson