Handbook of Psychiatric Consultation with Children and Youth

I have spent the best part of the last quarter of a century working on the con­ sultation service at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Much of my satisfaction has stemmed from working with nonpsychiatric physicians, especially in having them come to realize the value of psychological methods in the treatment of their patients. It has always been my belief that learning to understand the patient's mental life was as much a part of medicine as the taking of vital signs. To treat adequately, certainly to treat well, a physician must know something of his patient's thought processes. Teaching others the value of this knowledge is the first step in educating them to seek ways of learning it themselves. Rarely can this be done in the lecture hall. One can best pique curiosity by demon­ strating worth, and that is done at the bedside or in whatever setting the con­ sultation is carried out. Every consultation then carries an implicit imperative to attest its value. It can be covert teaching at its best. I have found the practice of consultation psychiatry satisfying and compelling enough to want to remain in it for at least another quarter of a century .