Social psychiatry

Social psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that studies how the social environment impacts mental health and mental illness. It applies a cultural and societal lens on mental health by focusing on mental illness prevention, community-based care, mental health policy, and societal impact of mental health. It is closely related to cultural psychiatry and community psychiatry.

Social psychiatry research is interdisciplinary by nature. It takes an epidemiological research approach and involves collaboration between psychiatrists and social scientists across sociology, anthropology, and social psychology. It has been associated with the development of community-based care and therapeutic communities, and emphasizes the effect of socioeconomic factors on mental illness. Social psychiatry can be contrasted with biopsychiatry, which focuses on genetics, brain neurochemistry and medication.

Social psychiatry has influenced U.S. social policy and social movements, including the community mental health movement and the era of deinstitutionalization.

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