Patients Treated with Psychodynamic Psychotherapy by Residents at Massachusetts General Hospital

Abstract

Twenty-seven psychiatric residents training at a general hospital were interviewed to assess their experience and training in long-term psycho-dynamic psychotherapy. These residents had seen a total of 195 patients in psychodynamic psychotherapy for a median duration of 95 weeks. Most patients (52%) had both an Axis I and Axis II diagnosis; 29% an Axis I diagnosis only, and 18% had both an Axis I and Axis II diagnosis. Approximately half of the patients were also being treated with medication, particularly for major depression, panic disorder, and eating disorders. The residents found their supervisory experience to be more important in their learning of psychodynamic principles than any other factor. In terms of patient outcome, males seemed to do less well than females. These findings are discussed and future research questions are posed to investigate residency training in psychotherapy.