Innovations in Psychotherapy Education

Abstract

Decades of research supports the use of many different psychotherapies for patients with psychiatric disorders; therefore trainees and post-professionals need effective methods for learning psychotherapy and keeping up with the literature. New technologies can assist with this process. The purpose of this presentation is to present two, blended psychotherapy programs currently operating at McMaster University in Canada and Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. At McMaster, a web-based program has been integrated into the standard curriculum. PTeR, or ‘psychotherapy training e-resources” contains several psychotherapy e-modules which contain video clips of specific therapies, power point presentations, reference materials, MCQs to assess knowledge base, an innovative interactive ‘virtual therapist” which assesses clinical competence, and guidelines for teaching psychotherapy. Preliminary results reveals residents and faculty can improve their knowledge base in psychotherapy, and participants report satisfaction with this e-resource. At Upstate university webcam supervision is being creatively utilized to record therapy sessions, and the OQ45, a patient rated instrument has been utilized to provide feedback to therapists. Webcam supervision permits more accurate feedback to be delivered to the trainee about process, content and specific therapeutic interventions and outcomes. This method of training is integrated with a very comprehensive program which teaches psychodynamic, CBT, DBT, family and many other therapies. This highly interactive workshop will present both these programs, discuss the use of e-learning in Europe, and provide participants with an opportunity to discuss incorporating some of these methods of training in their own training programs.