Modern Psychiatry Divides Brain And Mind

A New Yorker cartoon from 2000 depicts the all-too-familiar scene of traditional talk therapy: A middle-aged man lies on a chaise lounge, a worried expression upon his face. A box of tissues by his side signals the deep, personal revelations expected from the session. The psychiatrist leans over to him, hand outstretched, a scrip in hand: "I medicate first and ask questions later."

The joke bites. The number of psychiatric visits that included psychotherapy dropped from 44 percent in the mid 1990s to 29 percent nearly a decade later. Now, the "15-minute med check" has become commonplace. That's just one of the revelations about the mental health profession included in Dr. Daniel Carlat's new book, "Unhinged." We talk to Carlat about the division of talk therapy and psychopharmacology and the problems it raises.

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