Can there be a Positivist Psychiatry? - Guest Lecture Dr Jock McClaren

Psychiatry is a medical discipline but it sits uneasily in medicine, which is an applied science (technology) based firmly in the tradition of the empirical sciences. These were given a formal basis in the "Positivist Manifesto," entitled The Scientific Conception of the World: The Vienna Circle, from 1929. In its practice, teaching and research, modern medicine uses what is called the biomedical model, and mainstream psychiatry follows suit. However, there is a strong movement within psychiatry to expand the scope and evidence-base of practice, using what is known as the biopsychosocial model, propounded by George Engel in 1977. There are major problems with both these models which lead to serious questions about the nature of psychiatry and its role as a custodial service. This is a huge topic which touches the lives of practically every citizen in one way or another, so this can only be a preliminary discussion.