Abstract
Background/Purpose
In the decades since George Engel proposed his Bio-Psycho-Social model in 1977, psychiatry has been increasingly divided into those that emphasised either the brain or the mind. This paper recognises Edwin (Ed) Harari’s clinical work and teaching at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne, which was exemplary in the integration of the brain and mind, and the practice of Engel’s model in this most challenging environment.
Conclusions
Ed symbolised the applicability and value of integrating psychodynamic thinking to general psychiatry rather than encouraging clinicians to be dogmatic in any one approach. Ed successfully bridged the tension between the brain and mind by integrating the subjectivity of the individual with the objectivity of neuroscience, in the wider context of the system. He practiced and embodied a truly biopsychosocial approach due to his real interest to integrate multiple fields. Ed’s contribution to medicine as a psychiatrist epitomised what modern psychiatry has so often strived for: the integration of the mind and brain in the broader sociocultural context whilst remaining mindful of the biological essential for psychiatrists wherever they work.
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