Guest Editor's Introduction

It is a great pleasure to introduce this issue of Psychodynamic Psychiatry on the subject of “Teaching Psychodynamic Psychiatry to Psychiatry Residents.” Teaching is very important to all of us involved in psychodynamic psychiatry. I have yet to meet a psychodynamic psychiatrist who does not count teaching as an important part of his or her activity and identity. We come from a strong tradition in education. The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Psychiatry has long been in support of this tradition.

The timing is perfect for us to turn anew to the issue of how to best communicate the principles of psychodynamic psychiatry to our students. In the past 50 years we have seen many changes in education as the position of the psychodynamic psychiatrist within the field has changed. We have fallen from a position of relative hegemony (in the 1960s) to a position of relative defeat (in the 1990s). The story of this fall has oft been told and much has been written about it. This story includes facts about the decline in the practice of psychotherapy among psychiatrists, the waning presence of a psychodynamic point of view in psychology and psychiatry training nationwide, the success of competing treatment paradigms with a stronger evidence base upon which to stake their claims, and the general disregard with which psychoanalysis itself is held in many areas of academia (Mojtabai & Olfson, 2008). Psychodynamic theorists and clinicians themselves contributed their fair share to the mind-brain conflict that has weakened our field.

In this issue of Psychodynamic Psychiatry, we will not beat the drums of the embattled warrior. We do not mourn the passing of the day when psychodynamic psychiatrists ruled the field of psychiatry. We believe that the field of psychiatry, positioned as it should be within biomedical science, is stronger and better than ever before. However, we are confident that the age of polarization in psychiatry is coming to a close. Developments