Visiting Psychodynamic Scholars Enhance Psychodynamic Learning for Psychiatric Residents

Limited resources in psychodynamic education in psychiatry residency training led the American Academy of Psychodynamic Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis to create The Victor J. Teichner Award. This award funds a psychodynamic scholar to visit a psychiatry residency program to teach residents and faculty over a 2-3-day period. Anonymous online surveys were distributed before and after the visit to 88 residents from three residency programs. In comparing pre-visit and post-visit groups, residents rated themselves as significantly improved in psychodynamic psychotherapy regarding (1) their level of competence (p < 0.005), (2) their ability to listen (p < 0.009), and (3) their ability to make interventions (p < 0.002). In addition, residents in psychodynamically underserved programs expressed strong interest in learning both general and psychodynamic psychotherapy skills despite being in programs they view as predominantly biologically oriented. These findings suggest that brief, intensive programs to enhance psychodynamic teaching are useful in psychiatric education and can result in a significant increase in residents' sense of competence in psychodynamic psychotherapy.