Psychiatry's role in the dehumanization of health care.

Contemporary health care systems have been criticized as being insensitive to patients' affective needs. Although the mental health care disciplines have assumed the guardianship of medical humanism, psychiatrists and behavioral scientists have unintentionally played a role in the development of this insensitivity. Preclinical psychiatric curricula and the role models presented by clinician-teachers often neglect the technologic aspects of humanistic medicine. This has encouraged a schism between the affective and cognitive components of medical practice. Alterations of psychiatric teaching and practice that may foster humanistic medical practice are suggested.