As we face rising cases of drug abuse and mental health crises among young people, there is an urgent need to rethink how we provide care. Psychiatry, when guided by compassion and grounded in science, offers a powerful approach to healing and prevention.
Compassionate psychiatry goes beyond prescribing medication. It means seeing the individual behind the addiction or illness. Many youths turn to drugs not because they are bad, but because they are trying to escape pain, trauma, stress, or depression. If we approach them with judgment, we push them further away. But if we meet them with...