정신건강의학의 새로운 도전 : 증상 치료에서 정신건강의 증진으로

New Challenge for Psychiatry : From Symptomatic Treatment to Mental Health Promotion

The author would like to explore a new challenge for psychiatry in the coming the decade. Although there has been a remarkable progress in symptomatic treatment within psychiatry during the past half century, the progress has been meager in the field of mental health promotion. On the other hand, the public has gained an increasing awareness of the importance of mental health and also expresses a strong desire for mental health promotion. The current practice of psychiatry is not comprehensive enough to fulfill the public’s needs, and finding a way to fulfill those needs is a new challenge for psychiatry in the future. Psychiatry must meet the growing need to survive as a beloved discipline by the public in the coming decade. Positive psychology has made a substantial progress in the field of mental health promotion and could be applied in psychiatry practice. The author proposes that psychiatry should pay a close attention to new developments in mental health promotions and make a genuine effort to apply a new strategy to mental health promotion, not only in clinical practice but also in research.