MEDICAL STUDY

Hokitika Guardian, 14 October 1933, Page 6

MEDICAL STUDY

A NEW COURSE

LONDON, September 6

It is reported "that -a special committee, headed by Sir Henry Brackenbury, chairman of the council pf the ■British Medical Association, is now engaged in preparing a detailed course of study on the subject of medical psychology with a view to inclusion of -the course i,n the curriculum tor medical students.

A general recommendation that medical psychology be included in the curriculum has been made in an interim report, and this report hss been adopted in principle, by the council.

“The ,filial decisions of the corn mi Ace are certain to -be dealt, with this session,” said an official of the association, ‘‘and they may arise at any of the earning quarterly meetings of the council.”

■Sir Henry Brackenbury (chairman of the Institute of Medical Psychology), in a special interview with a representative of the “Daily Telegraph,' 7 explained medical psychology a- 15 “study of the whole personality and mind processes of a -patient with the object of physical healing. ‘-'Medical psychology,” he added, “is already widely practised among British medical men and women. The difficulty is that these praeti nonets cl° (not usually acquire their knowledge of the subject during training, hut only afterwards, as « result- of experience.

“This haphazard way of obtaining knowledge and . expedience of a vital subject should, I feel, be replaced by i,a properly prepared study course for assimilation iby our students before They embark up an their careers. [Quackery is at present responsible for a g'reat deal of harm, and quackery ip. this most important branch of medical work -can only be swept away when medical psychology is fully recognised amd taught to our doctors.”