Who is a psychiatric social worker anyway?: A burning debate in India

Abstract

The Mental Healthcare Act 2017 defined various mental health professional which including "Psychiatric Social Worker” which hasten an ongoing debate on the qualification of a Psychiatric Social Worker. This write up will critically discuss some of the issues related to this debate. Since it is deemed necessary to have an open and inclusive perspective for the profession to practice efficiently and effectively in a very competitive contemporary era; where many other disciplines are competing not only to excel in the field practice but also on the ground of grabbing opportunities like employment, getting prominence, having policies in their favour, consuming maximum share of available resources and getting remuneration other. Keywords: Psychiatric social work, India, Mental Health Act