This book is a handbook that explores the best ways to promote the application of the Madrid Declaration, which sets ethical standards in psychiatric practice worldwide. The book was written with two questions in mind, both easy to ask and difficult to answer: - Is it possible to formulate a set of principles that will apply to all psychiatrists, regardless of the cultures to which they belong or in which they live? Or are there as many sets of ethical principles as there are cultures? - If there is such a set of principles, what should we do to ensure that psychiatry as a discipline makes a meaningful contribution to the social good without aiding evil?
To help explore this territory, 15 experts from different cultures explore the most pressing ethical issues prevalent in current psychiatric practice. Many of the dilemmas addressed in this book are routinely encountered by clinicians working in increasingly multicultural societies. The text covers issues that are broadly relevant to clinical practice and research, including: - an overview of ethics and societies around the world - discussions of ethical practices and dilemmas specific to different cultural regions - cross-cultural debate on overarching issues such as informed consent and mental health law reform
Readers will find that this is a textbook that stimulates and supports rather than closes the debate on the ethical aspects of psychiatric behaviour. It is much more than a book on ethics - it is an important contribution to understanding the impact of culture and history on ethical medical practice around the world, and the ongoing search for consensus on how to live together and contribute to the well-being of people with mental illness and their families.