Do psychiatric outpatients need professionals?

A large majority of psychiatric outpatients (70 percent) could be diagnosed by nonprofessionals, and an even larger proportion, 80 percent, of 36 patients evaluated could be treated by nonprofessionals. Where the nonprofessional needed professional assistance to diagnose and treat the patient, it was a medical doctor rather than a mental health professional who was needed in every case except one. The 36 psychiatric outpatients all had "problems of daily living" rather than "real" psychiatric illness.