Getting supervisory experiences with 'Socialization' and professional training of young medical doctors in psychiatric care units

Relations with psychiatric and psychotherapeutic patients call for a high degree of social competency on the part of the staff and the patient's physician. Successful education and socialization of young physicians therefore depend to a large extent on the milieu and structure of the institution and the team they are working in. Material from supervisory hours in two different psychiatric units was collected over several years. It could be shown that the choice of cases presented very often reflected the team's situation, covertly and to a certain extent unconsciously mirroring the challenges, fears and other emotional problems. The work of a supervisor should tend to make such covert and generally burdensome reactions to institution-bound influences and structure accessible and more conscious.