Family therapy training for psychiatric residents

The author describes a comprehensive four-year educational program for training psychiatric residents in marital and family therapy. Residents receive an average of 70 hours of didactic instruction and 175 hours of one-on-one supervision in family therapy; they conduct approximately 500 hours of family and marital therapy with 75--85 outpatient and inpatient families. The author identifies faculty and resident resistance to an additional theoretical model and the major involvement of nonphysician faculty but stresses that residents now have the opportunity to truly understand and implement a biopsychosocial model and that psychiatrists must increase their experience in specialized therapeutic modalities to remain clinical leaders.