The Psychiatrist in Search of a Science.

The article presents the first of three papers on the scientific bases of theories in psychiatry, based on material that was developed into a lecture given at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London in London, England in 1970. It reflects on the decline of the prestige of scientific knowledge at the present, and looks at what science means for the early psychiatrists. It explains that science calls for attitudes, such as dedication, reverence for truth and humility, which are now almost obsolete in the scientific working communities. It also examined the address given by psychiatrists Edward Mapother and Frederick Golla, which answered questions of whether psychiatry can aspire to be a science.