The International Journal of Social Psychiatry brings with it worldwide contributions related to social factors in aetiology and management of psychiatric disorders. With a new design and new layout launched with this issue, the journal continues to go from strength to strength. The role of social psychiatry and its reputation fluctuates as a result of a number of factors, including the rise of biological psychiatry. This is ironic in itself, as if there were a disjunction between the two. Individuals have a biological and organic template which gets influenced both by psychological and social factors. Development in childhood and social factors - such as unemployment, poor housing and social inequalities -influence the individual. It is crucial that clinicians and researchers approach their patients and subjects in a holistic manner. Psychiatry deals with mental illness, emotional and behavioural disturbances and is a specialty of medicine.
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