The Future of Psychiatric Education
LOUIS JOLYON WEST M.D.1
1 Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Calif. 90024
The psychiatrist of tomorrow, while retaining his hardwon expertise in psychodynamics and psychotherapy, will be considerably more of a neurobiologist, endocrinologist, behavioral scientist, even mathematician, than is common today. He will be expected to integrate advances in research on both brain and behavior, and to apply the amalgam in a truly biosocial approach to the field of mental health and the practice of medicine. Therefore the psychiatrist's education must provide him with a great variety of knowledge without sacrificing depth, scholarship, or humanity. Four years of college, four of medical school (with the emphasis on breadth and enrichment rather than on early specialization and shortcuts), and four of rigorous postdoctoral education will not be considered irrelevant or excessive. Furthermore, psychiatry and the behavioral sciences will become increasingly important in the education of all physicians and other health professionals. Thus liaison teaching will be a major responsibility of psychiatric educators in the future.
