Psychotherapy training in psychiatry residencies: A review of trainees’ perspectives

Abstract

Background and Objectives

Incorporating psychotherapy into the curricula of psychiatry residency programs has been proven difficult, even in countries where it is a requirement for residents to become psychiatrists. The primary purpose of the article was to assess psychiatry trainees’ perspectives on psychotherapy training in residency programs worldwide.

Methods

The authors performed a narrative review, resulting in 19 original research studies, published between 2001 and 2021, evaluating psychiatry residents’ perspectives by the application of questionnaires.

Results

Psychiatry residents are interested in and value psychotherapy training, and some consider it should be an obligatory competency for psychiatrists, as it already occurs in some countries worldwide. Even though, most psychiatry trainees feel dissatisfaction with the existing training in residency curricula, pointing out concerns related to the quality of resources, time within the residency period, and financial constraints. In terms of personal psychotherapy, we found contrasting views of its importance in psychotherapy training for psychiatry residents. A crucial finding was that psychiatry residents tend to lose interest in psychotherapy during the years of the residency, and dissatisfaction with the quality of the psychotherapy curricula, lack of support, and low self-perceived competence in psychotherapy by trainees were factors associated with reduced interest in psychotherapy training.

Conclusions

The authors postulate that maintaining residents’ interest in psychotherapy requires improvements in the residency curricula and departmental leadership must support trainees’ goals of becoming comprehensively trained psychiatrists.