Does Psychiatry Need 'Rebranding'?

Hello. I am Dr Stephen M. Strakowski, founding chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Dell Medical School in Austin, Texas. In previous conversations, I have talked about the Dell Medical School and our attempts to do things that are different and innovative. Today I want to take a different spin on some of those previous discussions and talk about psychiatry as a field.

I believe that psychiatry needs to do a better job of branding itself as a specialty. Why do I say that? If you watch any television or news reporting, go to the movies, or read the newspaper, you know that psychiatrists are rarely presented in a positive light. The typical scene is outdated, with the patient on a couch talking to an analyst, which is not how most of us, including analysts, practice today. Your classic New Yorker cartoon, for example, portrays us that way almost every time.

In fact, to most of the public, psychiatry is quite mysterious, and I believe that is our fault. In a specialty with a lot of stigma attached anyway, the mystery simply contributes to the stigma. By being mysterious, we are vague in our brand and about what we do, which allows other groups to brand us, and they typically brand us incorrectly.