PICTURE CREDIT

at a swap meet titled Psychiatry in

General Practice .

It was published in 1948 , well

before the DSM had come into

existence , and I found it totally

refreshing .

It has chapters such as ‘ Unhappy

People ’, ‘ Confused People ’, ‘ Anxious

People ’, ‘ Suspicious People ’, ‘ Queer

and Twisted People ’ (“ the psychopath

, people in rebellion against

society ”) and ‘ Dreamy People ’.

It provides detailed case studies

illustrating people ’ s lives and

dilemmas , families , work and

experiences .

You really feel like you know

these people after you read their

We were provided with little

If I were to express myself purely

As if this system will solve

talk to , who listens , understands

narratives .

vignettes from which we were meant

emotionally to this further imposition

the grossly underfunded , bro-

and supports them . Amen .

It has been sitting on my book-

to obtain a standardised evaluation

on our judgement and style of prac-

ken mental health system , espe-

There is an opportunity cost in

shelf for decades , waiting for the

of severity and referral needs .

tice , aiming to reduce everything we

cially the mental health service

the myriad requirements we are

right moment … and that moment

It still boiled down to subjective

do to tick boxes , one need only look at

performed extensively by GPs ,

being forced to accommodate .

has come at last .

assessments : there was disagreement

Edvard Munch ’ s painting The Scream .

which is not adequately measured

In the end , we will be completely

Contrast this ‘ outdated ’ approach

among the workshop participants in

I suppose I am a storyteller by

because it is a part of almost every

hamstrung from doing our job .

with the one I was exposed to in the

ratings .

nature , and a narrative approach

consultation .

I feel that our skills , not to

workshops administered through

I ended up assessing the tool as

mention our morale , are being

the Primary Health Networks : national training — initial assessment and referral ( IAR ) for mental healthcare , for which GPs are paid $ 300 to attend .

IAR introduces a tool that sup-

another useless tick-box exercise .

I find it totally repugnant to engage in complex personal encounters with patients ( that is , human beings ) and then reduce all the nuance to overly abstract ratings .

I can ’ t say it more bluntly than this : do not micromanage my engagement with a person in distress .

undermined by these new technology-based bureaucratic requirements .

We learnt that Commonwealthfunded mental health services would progressively begin using the

posedly instructs us how to com-

I can ’ t think of a more alienating

IAR decision support tool .

municate information about mental

experience for a patient than watch-

that is truly person centred is my

One of the interesting things the

God help us all .

health patients to other providers

ing their doctor staring at a computer

modus operandi .

workshop did bring up was that 90 %

I ’ m throwing my hat in with

and gauge referral needs . There are eight domains on

while they are pouring out their heart during an initial assessment .

I protest the dehumanising direction that medicine is taking .

of suicides occur among people who do not have a mental health prob-

the ‘ Queer and Twisted People ’, in rebellion against society .

which to evaluate patients and five

I can ’ t say it more bluntly than this :

One of the stated goals of this

lem but are overcome by existential

levels of care to choose . Connect the dots .

do not micromanage my engagement with a person in distress .

system is to minimise the risk of underservicing or overservicing .

challenges . I believe they need someone to

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