In an increasingly secular world we need the guidance of the Church's Magisterium and the Holy Father as the families we treat contend with formidable choices and confront divorce, abortion on demand, violence, homicide, suicide, euthanasia and many other social ills. Truly, life has become cheap while truth and morals are no longer absolute, but relative. The world is tottering on the brink of self-destruction. In family therapy, the psychiatrist evaluates the essential family functions of problem-solving, communication, affective involvement, autonomy and role definition. He must unravel the roots of marital conflicts and motivate the couple to give up sinful habits for reciprocal satisfaction and fulfillment.
Some psychiatrists specialize in group therapy or individual counseling.
The aforementioned are modes of treatment on the biological and natural level. It is roughly categorized into three overlapping periods beginning at the dawn of human history. For the first 1800 years A.D., sickness of the mind was baffling, inexplicable and mysterious. Then, psychiatry was not a medical specialty. Theories of mental diseases commixed with philosophy and religious beliefs.