Introduction: Psychiatry is the branch of medicine concerned with the defining and diagnosing mental disorders, finding ways of treatment, developing methods for determining causes, and conceiving measures for prevention of mental disorders. Psychiatry has greatly advanced over the last two decades. In our country, however, due to prejudice and ignorance, mental disorders are still often considered incurable and alarming by the general public as well as by physicians, and psychiatric patients are stigmatized and marginalized by the society.
The role of psychiatry in modern medicine and society: Psychiatry has an important role in the contemporary medicine and society in general, considering the increasing number of people suffering from mental disorders, disability they cause, and their frequent simultaneous occurrence with various physical illnesses, especially chronic ones. Comorbidity of physical and mental disorders makes the treatment more difficult and time-consuming, whereas an unrecognized and untreated mental disorder has a negative impact on the prognosis and outcome of the physical illness.
Psychiatry as an integrative discipline: Because of the great advances in psychopharmacology and etiopathological research, as well as development of new classifications, contemporary psychiatry integrates biological, psychological and social aspects into an integrative biopsychosocial approach to etiopathogenesis, manifestations, course, treatment, and outcome of mental disorders. In fact, this means that the etiological factors of a psychiatric disorder include mutually interacting biological (genetic, neuroanatomical, biochemical, etc), psychological (personality/temperament), and social (background, stressful life events) factors. Therefore, the treatment itself involves application of biological, psychological and social methods. THE POSITION OF'PSYCHIATRY IN OUR COUNTRY: The significant increase in the number of people suffering fiom mental disorders (depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse disorders) underlines the importance of psychiatry in our country. It is also clear that psychiatric services need to be reformed. In order for this reorganization to be effective it is necessary to review the current conditions, include both mental health specialists and general physicians, provide financial resources, and carry it out gradually, with an adequate support from the health care administration.