A Preceptorship for Beginning Psychiatric Residents

Abstract

Therapeutic diversification is increasing in psychiatry. Training programs frequently meet the demand for teaching other therapies by reducing the time devoted to intensive psychotherapy. “An Experiment in Self-Exploration,” offered at Yale from 1963–66, addressed itself to learning psychodynamic constructs while easing the process of becoming a psychiatrist. Twelve residents each met privately once or twice a week with a training analyst over four to six months.

A primarily didactic experience was expected. Instead, the residents reported clarification of thought about self, self in relation to profession, and formulation and reconciliation of doubts and feelings concerning the value of psychotherapy for resident and patient. Three types of learning were characteristic of the project: intellectual (use of reasoned inference and abstract thought), experiential (using the preceptor to deal with subjective experience), and apperceptive (learning from concrete experience without the preceptor). Apprenticeship learning and professional growth into residency also occurred.