Notes

A conference on an ideal training program for psychotherapists was held under the auspices of New York University, with the support of the Aaron E. Norman Fund, March 21-24, 1963. Among thirty-two participating representatives from the fields of psychoanalysis, psychiatry, clinical psychology, and social work were the following: Knight Aldrich, John D. Benjamin, Herbert Gaskill, Lawrence S. Kubie, Lewis L. Robbins, Milton Rosenbaum, David L. Rubinfine, Albert J. Solnit, Robert S. Wallerstein, John Warkentin, and Robert B. White; Sibylle K. Escalona, Robert R. Holt, Margaret J. Rioch, David Shakow, and Milton Wexler; Ruth Fizdale and Charlotte Towle.

It was agreed that current methods of training psychotherapists are unsatisfactory quantitatively and qualitatively. Too many 'psychotherapists' practicing today have only a minimum of relevant training. Conferees were divided as to whether priority should be given to increasing the number of psychotherapists or to improving the quality of training. They agreed unanimously that improved training is needed, and several pilot plans were proposed: 1, an extended program involving at least four years of full-time graduate study and supervised experience, leading to a new doctorate and aiming at the highest level of competence; 2, a briefer and more modest program (about two years) for older students, producing graduates who could function in an institutional setting under supervision, as exemplified in the pioneering experiment by Margaret Rioch and her co-workers at the National Institute of Mental Health; and 3, a school that would offer a training program on several successive levels, the first level bringing the student to approximately the degree of competence described in 2, above; the second producing a 'general practitioner' of psychotherapy with a doctorate and facility in several techniques; and higher levels