Ethical issues inherent in psychiatric research and clinical practice are invariably complex and multi-faceted. Well-reasoned ethical decision-making is essential to deal effectively with patients and promote optimal patient care. Drawing on the positive reception of Psychiatric Ethics since its first publication in 1981, this highly anticipated 5th edition offers psychiatrists and other mental health professionals a coherent guide to dealing with the diverse ethical issues that challenge them.

Features:

  • In-depth discussion of the ethical issues most relevant to psychiatry, addressing clinical, research, policy, legal, cultural, and philosophical issues in the field
  • Written and edited by world-recognised experts in the field of psychiatric ethics
  • All chapters have been fully revised to reflect changes to the field
  • Includes a new chapter on the ethical aspects of diagnosis

About the Editor

Sidney Bloch, a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, was one of the first psychiatrists to investigate the misuse of psychiatry to suppress dissent in the former Soviet Union, his work culminating in the 1977 publication Russia’s Political Hospitals; the book won the American Psychiatric Association’s Guttmacher Award for the best volume in forensic psychiatry. A sequel by him, Soviet Psychiatric Abuse, published in 1983, contributed to the end of the practice in the mid-80s. This perversion of his profession ushered in a commitment to psychiatric ethics which has endured for four decades. His volume Psychiatric Ethics was the first publication on the subject (OUP, 1981) . It has been widely used in psychiatric training and has become a standard reference universally. Its 5th edition has just been published. A sister volume, An Anthology of Psychiatric Ethics (OUP, 2006), won a commendation award from the British Medical Association in 2007. He was centrally involved in devising the foundation Code of Ethics of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College Psychiatrists and to its subsequent four editions, the most recent in 2018.  He continues to write on, and teach, psychiatric ethics and has been invited to lecture on the subject in many countries.