Open AccessPsychiatric ethics in war and peace
Author(s) -
Msvk Raju
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
industrial psychiatry journal/industrial psychiatry journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 0976-2795
pISSN - 0972-6748
DOI - 10.4103/0972-6748.123637
Subject(s) - autonomy , context (archaeology) , psychology , military medical ethics , engineering ethics , state (computer science) , cognition , medical ethics , psychiatry , psychotherapist , political science , law , engineering , computer science , paleontology , algorithm , biology
Practice of psychiatry is a complex activity because the psychiatrist generally practises his art in an emotionally charged environment with patients who may not be in a in a state of mind to exercise autonomy as a result of cognitive impairment and preoccupation with symptoms. No one principle of ethics will be suitable to guide right conduct in widely variable situations. Making ethical judgements in the military context can be difficult and may have potential for abuse as for an uniformed psychiatrist mission takes priority over man. However mission centered and medical text book centred ethics need not be compartamentalised. The present paper seeks to offer a brief overview of ethical principles and specific situations in which one may have to make ethical judgements.