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Training Psychiatrists in Behavioural Psychotherapy—Dispelling Myths

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Roger Farmer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, London
David Miller
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, London
John Green
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, London
Joe Herzberg
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, St Mary's Hospital, Praed Street, London
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Behavioural psychotherapy is probably now the preferred treatment in as many as 25% of neurotic patients or 12% of adult psychiatric outpatients. It is, of course, part of some psychiatrists' therapeutic repertoire already. However, more widespread use of behavioural methods by psychiatrists would seem to be desirable and this is particularly so as clinical psychologists remain thin on the ground in many places. Indeed clinical psychology remains one of the smallest health-service professions. In 1981 there were 1,105.7 qualified clinical psychologists (whole time equivalents) in England. Moreover this overall figure conceals enormous disparities between Health Authorities, some of which provide good psychological services while others provide virtually nothing. In recognition of the importance of behavioural techniques, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has recommended that experience of them should be an integral part of any psychiatrist's training.

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1986

References

1. Marks, I. M. (1981) Psychiatry and behavioural psychotherapy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 7478.Google Scholar
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3. The Royal College of Psychiatrists (1971) Guidelines for the training of general psychiatrists in psychotherapy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 555557.Google Scholar
4. Marks, I. M. (1982) Toward an empirical clinical science: behavioural psychotherapy in the 1980s. Behaviour Therapy, 13, 6381.Google Scholar
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