Over the last few years, the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis and Howard University Department of Psychiatry have been building an affiliation to bring psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy training into the psychiatry program at Howard.
For two years, faculty and supervisors from the WBCP have been involved with teaching and supervision of the Howard University psychiatry residents.
During their PGY1 and PGY2 years, residents meet with a teacher from WBCP who introduces psychodynamic thought through the discussion of patient interactions in the Emergency Department, the Psychiatric Hospital, and on the Consult Service.
In the PGY3 year, when the residents begin with psychotherapy cases, they learn through participation in a year-long, once a month introductory seminar on psychodynamic concepts and psychotherapy technique. In addition, each resident is assigned an individual supervisor with whom they meet weekly to discuss cases from a psychodynamic vantage point. Residents can choose to continue with their supervisors during their fourth year of residency.
Participating Residents are also invited to attend the WBCP’s Fellowship Program and Child and Adolescent Fellowship Program, the Clinical Psychotherapy Program, and the Washington Case Conference. This affiliation is a work in progress with new components to be developed, including having the residents give talks for the WBCP membership.
Although having just begun, this affiliation is being experienced as an asset to both the WBCP and the Howard University Psychiatry Department.
