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One of the important considerations in Ives Hendrick's book is his stressing the problem of choosing appropriate learning experiences for the beginning student of psychiatry. He expresses concern that theoretic material may be learned too early and may indeed hinder later learning. He pleads for “more gradual introduction” for the beginning resident with “graded teaching and responsibilities.”
A similar brief could be made for most medical students (interns, and/or residents) in any clinical discipline. All too often, the beginner is expected to perform on the same level as those at a later stage. Indeed, the difficulty or complexity of clinical case material is seldom considered in assigning cases in the learning experience. Most formal education seems to involve a graduated structuring of the material to be learned. Surely, the processes to be
mastered in clinical psychiatry warrant systematic analysis as well.
Dr. Hendrick asks whether the learner can be encouraged to “pick-up where we leave-off.” In his words: “To what extent can a senior teacher of dynamic psychiatry start out to teach what he now knows, what is now the summation of what he has learned at various stages of his own development, in so rapidly evolving a profession; or is it that the younger resident, at least in part, must of necessity go through the same sequence of phases in his own professional development as we did, so that his later advanced experience in using free association and in thinking dynamically evolves from more traditional experience?”
The answer to this question must depend upon a careful analysis of (a) knowledge to be acquired, (b) cognitive processes to be mastered, (c) basic skills to be achieved, and (d) general professional behavior to be assimilated. At the same time, we must ascertain the kinds of learnings which take place in the phases referred to above. We must know, then, whether similar learning can take place with a less expensive commitment of time and money. Once