The Virtuous Psychiatrist: Character Ethics in Psychiatric Practice 2010

The context of this interdisciplinary work by a philosopher and clinician is psychiatric care given to people with serious mental disorders. Such a setting makes particular moral demands on the very character of the practitioner, as shown, calling for greater virtue than many other forms of practice. In a practice that cares about patient identity, the authors promote an increased awareness of cultural issues, particularly gender. Explaining the nature of moral psychology and the nature of the good psychiatrist, this work provides a sustained application of virtue theory to clinical practice. With its roots in the writings of Aristotle, it presents the qualities of virtue as habits that can be nurtured and strengthened through training. The turn to virtue theory in philosophy over the past few decades has resulted in important research on professional ethics. By approaching the ethics of psychiatric professionals in these virtuous terms, Radden and Sadler's work provides an original application of this theorising to practice.