Disturbing revelations of the Royal Commission into Deep Sleep Therapy at the Chelmsford Private Hospital, and the Queensland Commission of Inquiry into assault and maltreatment of patients in the psychiatric ward of the Townsville General Hospital, reports of sexual misconduct and other boundary violations surfaced in the past 20 years. Despite its monitoring requirements and its expense, its wide prescribing by Australian public mental health services is noteworthy. Psychotherapy requires revisionism, repositioning and more pragmatic advocacy. Its recent reformulation as a major economic cost due to its disabling effects, endorsed by the World Bank, Harvard University and the World Health Organization, provided the spin, attracting public, media, health department and political attention. Consumers and their advocates have had a more difficult row to hoe in psychiatry than in most other medical specialties, with their contribution and impact on professional attitudes humbling.
Recruitment is down and there is a lack of plurality in the air.
The January 2051 issue of The Medical Journal of Australia will detail the rollback. Gordon B Parker Professor and Head School of Psychiatry University of New South Wales Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, NSW John H Ellard Psychiatrist Bead Lane Specialist Centre, Sydney, NSW Above photograph. Ambulatory psychiatric patients, who have been put to bed in broad day-light, Callan Park Mental Hospital, Sydney, circa 1960. From the Report of the Royal Commission into Callan Park Mental Hospital, 1961. Search Readers may print a single copy for personal use.