Behavioral Psych.

[DrDavid7]

This question is mainly for resident/attendings - I would just like to know during psychotherapy do you rely a lot on behavioral principles such as reinforcement.

Do you learn about behaviorism during residency, etc?

I am not an expert, but I've taken a couple of classes in behavioral analysis and I find it really interesting, especially when used with the developmentally disabled. In many cases it works, even over medication.


I know many psychologists use behaviorism, but I just wanted to know the psychiatry view!

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[erg923]

I'm a Ph.d candidate in clinical, but my adviser teaches/lectures residents in psychotherpay at our Med school. I believe she teaches 2 courses, "Brief Interventions" and a full course in cognitive-behavioral therapy. To my knowledge, the residents get a very brief overview of the experimental roots and history of behaviorism. I don't think she gets too in depth, or spends a great deal of time discussing Tolman, Thorndike, and all the rat running, but she makes sure that basic learning theory and the schedules of reinforcement are covered. For the most part however, her course concentrates on the more recent applications of behaviorist principles and cognitive-behavioral principles for clinical problems.

 

[Anasazi23]

Many psychiatrists use behavioral principles in a variety of ways. As you mentioned, a psychiatrist may assign a behavioral plan to parents of a disabled child for purposes of reducing maladaptive behavior, etc. Other psychiatrists who do CBT use behavioral principles to either encourage or extinguish behavior or thought patterns.

How much this is covered in residency will depend on the residency and their didadtic schedule, their mode of psychotherapy supervision, etc.