The current problems and future issues regarding mental health care, where mental disorders without biomarkers are diagnosed and treated, are described. Problems in psychiatry itself are how to use operational diagnostic criteria, the significance of biomarkers, disease mongering, and lack of transparent discussions between the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and psychiatric societies and associations.
Inadequate knowledge by psychiatrists, such as disregard for guidelines, self-directed treatment, and an inadequate specialist system must be examined. The profitability of medical institutions should also be discussed, including whether they can reduce the number of hospitalized patients and eliminate inappropriate prescriptions.
In the future, the adequate use of biomarkers, reconsideration of evidence-based medicine, what psychiatry covers, making psychiatry transparent, and emphasis on clinical psychiatry should be focused on instead of biological research not directly related to clinical practice.
Author's abstract
The Scope of Psychiatry: The Future of Psychiatry from the Perspective of Mental Health Care
Professor Emeritus of Kitasato University
Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica
124: 405-408, 2022
<Keywords:biomarkers, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, disease mongering, psychiatric specialist system, profitability>