The Teaching and Learning of Psychotherapy in a General Hospital

A general teaching hospital provides an excellent setting for the teaching of psychiatric residents. The Canadian model for a teaching network, including general and specialty hospitals, allows for special interests to develop within given hospitals. A department of psychiatry which chooses the teaching of psychotherapy as a special interest is examined. The teaching occurs in all areas of the department (ambulatory, inpatient, consultation-liaison) and is backed up by appropriate seminars. Individual supervision provides the backbone of the teaching program. The special interest exists within a department which must answer all of the psychiatric needs of a general hospital population. From the university point of view, the network is strengthened by the existence of various areas of concentrated interest within various component units of the network.