Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry
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Guided by ACGME's requirements, psychiatric residency training in psychotherapy currently focuses on teaching school-specific forms of psychotherapy (i.e., cognitive-behavioral, supportive, and psychodynamic psychotherapy). On the basis of a literature review of common factors affecting psychotherapy outcomes and experience with empirically supported and traditional psychotherapies, the authors aimed to develop an advanced contemporary and pragmatic approach to psychotherapy training for eight residents (two per PGY year) enrolled in a specialized Psychotherapy Scholars' Track within an adult general-residency program. ⋯ The Psychotherapy Scholars' Track developed and piloted in our general psychiatry residency is based on common factors, empirically-supported treatments, and use of experiential learning principles. Whether the Psychotherapy Scholars' Track and "Apprenticeship Model" will ultimately increase residents' psychotherapy skills and positively affect their ability to sustain postgraduate psychotherapy practice in varied settings requires long-term evaluation. The developers welcome empirical testing of the comparative effectiveness of this psychotherapy teaching approach relative to others.