Abstract

The increased demand for evidence-based medicine has proven much more challenging for psychiatry to accept than for medicine in general. Among the concerns is a perception that EBM does not respond appropriately to the character and complexity of psychiatric disorders and treatments, that the concept of ‘evidence’ is too narrowly construed, and that it may encourage a false sense of competence. It has also been claimed that EBM may encourage a kind of ‘cookbook medicine,’ leaving out tacit knowledge and the empathic and caring aspects of the psychiatrist– patient relationship.