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The recognition and management of countertransferential reactions in psychiatric residents is a central task of a training program (Langley and Yager, 1988). In various surveys among educators the skill of recognizing and dealing effectively with countertransference (CTF) has emerged as an essential component for the formation of a well-trained psychiatrist (Mohl et al., 1990). Since the effects of mishandled countertransferential reactions can be most damaging during the first year, it is during this time of training especially that addressing the issue in a structured and systematic way can be of exceptional educational value. We conducted a survey among residency training directors to assess the methods currently used to teach countertransference to psychiatric residents and to identify the impact of CTF reactions in PGY-1 (first-year) residents' functioning.
A 10-item questionnaire was distributed to 212 residency training directors. The questionnaire contained questions about teaching modalities and effects of CTF on the resident (Appendix).
Of the 212 programs 75 (35%) completed and returned the questionnaire. Although 38 programs (51%) reported formally teaching countertransference in all 4 years, an analysis of the teaching modalities shows that only 34 (47%) of the programs formally address CTF in the PGY-1 year. Besides individual supervision, a seminar was the most popular teaching format over all 4 years, followed by group, lecture, and peergroups (Table 1). Table 2 lists problems training directors attributed to