[The professional historical mistake: psychiatric aspects]

The concept of the professional historical mistake (PHM) pertains to a wide spread, deep seated, narrow professional attitude which has prevailed for many years, or decades, and fails to take into consideration existing professional knowledge, which would broaden the narrow professional approach. 3 cases of PHM in psychiatry are discussed. It is believed that PHM occur in medicine, and since they tend to be overlooked, conscious effort to detect them is needed in order to prevent or to halt them.