Best Practices for Teaching Psychotherapy to Medical Students: A Scoping Review.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Psychiatry
• Psychotherapy Training

Background:

• Psychotherapy is vital in mental healthcare but often inadequately taught in medical schools.
• There's a need to identify effective methods for psychotherapy education for medical students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To map best practices for teaching psychotherapy to medical students.
• To examine the types of psychotherapy and teaching strategies used in medical education.

Main Methods:

• A systematic scoping review of studies on psychotherapy education for medical students.
• Searches conducted across PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar.

Main Results:

• Multimodal approaches (didactic, experiential, clinical, digital) were most effective.
• Role-play and clinical exposition enhanced skills; e-learning was flexible but underutilized.
• Motivational interviewing, mindfulness, CBT, and psychodynamic approaches were most taught.

Conclusions:

• Multimodal, experiential, and integrated teaching strategies are needed for effective psychotherapy education.
• Standardized curricula can better prepare physicians to integrate psychotherapy into practice.