Psychotherapy training in postgraduate psychiatry training in Nigeria - Are we doing enough?

Nigeria, with an estimated 40 million people living with mental disorders, faces a critical shortage of psychiatrists to address the significant burden. Despite psychotherapy being integral to psychiatric training, it lacks structure, consistency and adequate supervision. This is alarming, particularly given the substantial demand for specialized psychotherapeutic support among those with mental illness.

A cross-sectional study utilised an online survey targeting early career psychiatrists recruited from the Early Career Psychiatrists section of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria.

The questionnaire was distributed to 252 early career psychiatrists across Nigeria, with a 42.9% response rate, of which 50% were male, with 73.2% trainees and 26.8% early career psychiatrists. While 52.8% had received some psychotherapy training, only 2.8% were qualified psychotherapists. Notably, only 27.6% of those with psychotherapy training had over 100 hours of training. Factors such as receiving psychotherapy training during postgraduate training and having supervised psychotherapy training were found significant for having independent psychotherapy training.

There is little emphasis on psychotherapy training in the postgraduate training in Nigeria. Those who had full training in psychotherapy were self-sponsored. Structured, supervised and mandatory psychotherapy within psychiatry training curriculum is recommended.