Emotional problems in psychiatric residency training: recommendations for their reduction

Working from an initial study, which attempted to quantify the number of serious mental disorders among psychiatric residents, the authors focused on the relationship of these problems to the exigencies of the training experience. Under the auspices of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training's Task Force on Emotional Problems of Residents, a questionnaire was distributed to all residents who completed training in 1975. Respondents in this national survey had an opportunity to rate the stressfulness and the impact on personal and professional growth for many specific aspects of residency training. These ratings, plus the considerable demographic data obtained, suggest high stress levels for many aspects of residency training, but also illustrate the growth promoting effects of most of these experiences. Much of this important data was included in an article recently published in this journal. As a follow-up to this initial report, this article provides a further review of the data and offers guidelines for improving the emotional status of our colleagues in training.