The psychiatrist-administrator: odd man out?

The development of community psychiatry as a recognized subspecialty of psychiatry and the concomitant growth of community mental health programs have once again brought into focus the role of the psychiatrist-administrator in the practice of public psychiatry. This paper explores the principal conflicts that the psychiatrist-administrator faces in his multiple roles as a physician, psychiatrist, administrator, community services planner, and clinician. Unless he can work toward a resolution of the conflicts and problems that arise, he is in danger of becoming the "odd man out"--the psychiatrist-adminstrator who does not have complete acceptance from any of the groups to which he belongs and within which he is trying to define his combined and complex role.