Whitley Rob
Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA.
Harv Rev Psychiatry. 2008;16(6):352-64. doi: 10.1080/10673220802564186.
Contemporary Western societies are characterized by rapid social transformations, the scope and pace of which are unprecedented in comparison to previous eras. This new era is often referred to as "postmodern." Social theory suggests that such transformations influence multifarious processes related to psychiatry, including risk factors, help-seeking behavior, the clinical encounter, and clinical outcomes. I introduce and critically discuss five key themes that arise out of sociological analysis of postmodernity and that may have special relevance to psychiatry: (1) individualization; (2) social roles and self-identity; (3) the culture of expertise; (4) the transformation of intimacy; and (5) future orientation. Although extant work implicitly corroborates the importance of the identified themes as influences relevant to psychiatry, little work in psychiatry has explicitly applied these themes or investigated their impact. Further integration of these themes into research may give a fresh perspective on important issues pertinent to contemporary psychiatry.
当代西方社会的特点是社会变革迅速，与以往时代相比，其范围和速度都是前所未有的。这个新时代常被称为“后现代”。社会理论表明，这种变革影响着与精神病学相关的多种过程，包括风险因素、求助行为、临床接触和临床结果。我介绍并批判性地讨论了后现代性社会学分析中出现的五个关键主题，这些主题可能与精神病学特别相关：（1）个体化；（2）社会角色与自我认同；（3）专业文化；（4）亲密关系的转变；（5）未来取向。尽管现有研究隐含地证实了所确定主题作为与精神病学相关影响因素的重要性，但精神病学领域很少有研究明确应用这些主题或调查其影响。将这些主题进一步整合到研究中，可能会为当代精神病学的重要问题提供新的视角。
