What Difference Does Psychoanalysis Training Make in Psychiatric Clinical Practice?

Lee, Chang Hun

Abstract

Psychiatrists must learn and experience various fields of psychiatric medicine and sciences in order to be able to comprehensively understand the human mind and pathological mental phenomena. Without this all-encompassing expertise, they will not be able to adequately treat and prevent psychiatric illnesses in terms of neurobiology, psychodynamic psychiatry, and socio-cultural psychiatry. I insist that psychodynamic psychiatry, which is a requirement for psychiatrists to learn and practice during clinical work, must be included as an essential part of resident training for psychiatrists. I wonder however, whether the current training curriculum for psychiatric residents is sufficient for imparting the understanding and experience of psychodynamic psychiatry. Currently, there is an increasing need for training in psychodynamic psychiatry among psychiatric clinicians and psychiatric residents since they recognize that psychodynamic approaches should be applied in order for them to better understand and treat psychiatric illnesses more effectively. By reflecting on the changes in my own identity and clinical practice after being trained in psychoanalysis, I have tried to identify the difference that training in psychoanalysis makes in the clinical practice of psychiatrists and its influence on their personal and professional life. In conclusion, I want to emphasize that training in psychodynamic psychiatry is essential and valuable for clinical psychiatrists as well as for the training of psychiatric residents.