Psychiatry is a medical specialty which deals with the diagnosis and management of mental illness. It utilizes all aspects of the biopsychosocial model in caring holistically for the patient’s body and mind. Psychiatry is erroneously perceived as a specialty of lesser importance with a relatively unscientific basis. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, in a national survey, almost one in five Australians had suffered from a mental disorder in the last 12 months. Recent advances in neuropsychiatry and psychobiology have added an increasingly complex and effective armamentarium of treatment options, ranging from the atypical antipsychotics to procedures such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. As medical practitioners psychiatrists are constantly aware of organic factors (medical conditions or pharmacological agents) which may contribute to psychiatric symptoms. Conversely there are times where somatic symptoms may be the presentation for an underlying psychiatric illness. The ability to analyse these intricate relationships between mind and body forms the basis of psychiatric practice.

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