Psychiatric work aims to benefit those who are mentally ill, but it also holds a risk of adverse effects. This ?dual face= of psychiatry is seen for example in the way in which benefits and risks are often assessed in different ways by the physician from the way in which they are experienced and evaluated by the patient.The aim of this volume is to develop solutions that can be understood in a complementary fashion for this tense relationship that is often described as being insolubly antagonistic. Using specific, historically based examples oriented towards a biopsychosocial model, the problem of psychiatric risk&benefit considerations is clarified and the ambivalence of psychiatric work is reflected on in a constructive and critical fashion in a trialogue between psychiatry, patient and society.

Prof. Hanfried Helmchen was head of the Department of Psychiatry at the Free University of Berlin from 1971 to 1999. He is a member of the Academy of Ethics in Medicine and in 2015 was awarded the Wilhelm Griesinger Medal by the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology (DGPPN).