The mental health clinic: A new model

The role of psychiatrists into public mental health clinics has been hampered by a perceived restriction of the psychiatrist's role to prescribing and signing forms, limiting opportunities to engage in the kind of integrated care that attracted many physicians to this specialty. We propose a revision of the current model in a direction that maximizes the expertise of this specialist as well as other clinicians in the health care team. The basic unit would consist of a psychiatrist (with adequate background both in psychopharmacology and psychotherapy), an internist and four clinical psychotherapists, who may provide evidence-based treatment after the initial evaluation of the psychiatrist. Its functioning would emphasize repeated assessments, sequential combination of treatments, and close coordination of team members. Re-invigorating the role of the psychiatrist in the context of a team in which role assignments are clear could result in better outcomes and enhanced recruitment of psychiatrists into the public sector.