Contextual Psychiatry Committee

Skilled psychiatrists are well-trained to address the unseen and underattended features of psychiatric illnesses to inform their treatment. The mission of the Contextual Psychiatry Committee is to apply the same skills to the field of Psychiatry itself. We believe that it will be useful to understand the Umwelt of Psychiatry to include the broader context of the patient as a person, including the person's prenatal, developmental, familial, social, relational, and cultural aspects.

Our committee is working on a book (monograph) on Utilizing the Context of the Patient in Psychiatric Assessment and Treatment. The book will recall the central place of context in the history of Psychiatry; describe the recent loss of context and the costs; list factors contributing to this loss of context; and outline strategies that can help clinicians bring the context back to the clinical discussion. We welcome future GAP Fellows to join us in this endeavor.