Should Psychotherapy be taught to Psychiatric Residents? A Debate.

Much of this discussion was inspired by a debate held at the 1984 APA Annual Meeting, entitled Does Psychodynamic Theory Have Little Relevance to Contemporary Psychiatric Care? We saw the need for a debate, resident generated, that would address a corollary issue in residency training. Our program will include an introduction, a debate involving statements for the affirmative, that is, that psychotherapy should be taught to psychiatric residents, and two statements for the negative, that psychotherapy should not be taught to psychiatric residents. Concluding remarks will follow. If our title is provocative , if what we have to say inspires you to participate in this critical discussion, either by way of pleasing, stimulating, or offending you, then we have served our purpose well