Dynamic Consultations with Psychiatrists

Book excerpt: Unique resource detailing the day-to-day activity of doctors who work on “the coal face” of psychiatry in an acute setting Dynamic Consultations With Psychiatrists is the outcome of a collaboration between the psychiatrists of a certain hospital and the author, which has continued successfully for more than ten years, containing a number of patient consultations and cases where psychiatry was used successfully to solve a patient’s problem. The presentation of each case, and particularly of the consultation, is meant to demonstrate the process by which insights were gained. Each consultation is written in plain English with the deliberate avoidance of terminology and especially psychoanalytic jargon. Naturally, all identified features of the patients have been deleted or changed so that the patients’ privacy is not compromised. The format is near to a transcript so that the work demonstrates how the understanding evolves and emerges from the process. The structure of the book is not according to a diagnosis but according to “presenting problem” (in other words, the most prominent feature), allowing for easy and efficient accessibility. Sample concepts and learning resources covered and included in Dynamic Consultations With Psychiatrists are as follows: How a doctor is faced with a patient who is suffering in their own particular way and how the clinician gets to develop a deeper understanding of their predicament Difficulties the “coal face” doctors encounter and the challenges they will face in their personal emotional wellbeing Relationships with the other professionals both within their hospital and other agencies Curtailed histories so that there is a seamless exposition of how the conclusions of the consultation have been reached Psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and students/instructors in related programs of study can use Dynamic Consultations With Psychiatrists to gain valuable insight into the thought process of practicing psychiatrists in relation to a myriad of patient problems, allowing them to learn vicariously and become better at dealing with their own patients’ problems.