Are Psychiatrists An Endangered Species?

OPEN MINDS The Behavioral Health & Social Service Industry Analyst Pro & Con About 25 years ago, E. Fuller Torrey M.D., psychiatrist and author of The Death Of Psychiatry, provoked a storm by questioning psychiatrists’ usefulness to medical practice. Torrey’s thesis was that ‘talk therapy’ was little help for the seriously mentally ill and that those with less debilitating problems could be adequately treated by professionals without a medical degree. At the same time, Torrey argued, the seriously mentally ill were more effectively treated with medication, which could just as readily be dispensed by family practitioners or internists . . .