Psychiatric manpower: an overview

Abstract

There are approximately 25,000 to 30,000 psychiatrists in the United States, some 17,000 of whom are in actual clinical practice. As part of an overview of psychiatric manpower, the authors show the distribution of psychiatrists by state and present population-per-psychiatrist ratios. In discussing the distribution of psychiatrists in various work settings, they note that the decreasing percentages of psychiatrists in community mental health centers may be related to such factors as the large number of non-hospital-based centers, growing antimedical attitudes in centers, and psychiatrists' inclination to work in a setting similar to their training site. They believe that federal and state support should be increased for university-affiliated psychiatric training programs based in settings where psychiatrists are needed: state hospitals, VA hospitals, community mental health centers, and similar facilities. Such an approach would result in the recruitment and retention of greater numbers of psychiatrists in public service settings.