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When the illness speaks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2023

Norman R. Greenberg*
Affiliation:
Resident physician in the Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, New York, USA. He received his BA in chemistry at Princeton University. He then received his medical degree from Yale School of Medicine and investigated similarities among behavioural addictions in adolescents, under the guidance of Dr Marc N. Potenza.
*
Correspondence Norman R. Greenberg. Email: vrw9004@nyp.org

Summary

The nature of culpability and agency in patients with a variety of psychiatric diagnoses is complex. In this article, a psychiatry resident (specialty trainee in psychiatry) reflects on a clinical encounter in medical school to demonstrate some of the benefits (including the removal of stigma) and dangers (including the threat to patients’ agency) of using the medical model to conceptualise psychiatric illness.

Type
Clinical Reflection
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal College of Psychiatrists

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References

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