Psychiatry is a field of medicine and a medical speciality. It deals with a wide range of mental disorders and diseases, as listed in the currently used (although aged) International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition (ICD-10), chapter F. For the treatment by a psychiatrist, such a diagnose must be established. Diagnostic process in psychiatry has a form of interview and comprises of history taking and mental status examination. Main tools of a psychiatrist are specific questions and observation.
Basic therapeutic approaches comprise of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy.
There is currently running a reform of psychiatric care in the Czech Republic, which should increase the availability of services for people with severe mental illness (psychotic disorders, severe affective or personality disorders). Mental health centers (1 per 100.000 citizens) are planned to be build, as a mean of intermediate type of care between outpatient and inpatient. The orientation is towards a community mental health care, where prevention of long-term inpatient care and it’s social impact is of foremost importance. New outpatient care units are planned to be build and there is a support of psychotherapy services as well.