Challenges for trainees in psychiatry and early career psychiatrists

Abstract

Psychiatry as a discipline will undergo major changes in the coming years. Although changes can be particularly stimulating and challenging from an intellectual, scientific and social viewpoint, the new generations of psychiatrists must be prepared to face these changes and deal with them appropriately. Paradigms which have represented the foundations of psychiatry in the last century now need a major revision. In particular, both trainees in psychiatry and early career psychiatrists need to (1) (re)discover psychopathology, (2) improve mental healthcare through integrated treatments, (3) identify and treat new syndromes, (4) promote an image of psychiatry with patients at the heart of care and as advocates for each other by fighting stigma and promoting the recruitment in psychiatry by medical students. These can be achieved by increasing involvement in institutions and organizations to influence the agenda. In this paper the possible contribution of trainees and early career psychiatrists is discussed and recommendations are made in order to set a new agenda for early career psychiatrists who will still be practising 2-3 decades from now.

The legacy of Italian psychiatry

“…The introduction to the Italian edition of the DSM-5, written by Mario Maj, highlights the current clinical challenges and perspectives for psychiatrists worldwide. The last contribution of this issue is a reflection on the role of psychiatry in modern medicine (Fiorillo et al, 2013) and society from one of the editors with Professor Maj.…”

This is why there is hope for psychiatry

“…Associations of psychiatric trainees were included, as well as associations of psychiatrists, of other mental health professionals, and organizations of users and/or carers. Moreover, the European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT) and the Early Career Psychiatrists Committee of the EPA have recently created a task force on research, with several projects carried out so far (6), and many others still ongoing.…”

“…Many educational activities worldwide are now co-organized with early career psychiatrists, who have identified the areas where they have the most significant educational needs and gaps, including psychopathology, forensic psychiatry, leadership and research skills, and comorbidity of mental disorders with physical diseases (6,7,(19)(20)(21). Several actions have been taken to address these educational needs, including the organization of scientific events and the production of books (22) and educational modules.…”

“…The specific skills needed to interact effectively with families, administrators, journalists and the legal system should become a formal component of post-graduate training and continuing medical education of every early career psychiatrist (6).…”

Long term economic evaluation of interventions targeting multiple mental health conditions: protocol for a rapid review of methods

“…However, interventions that target a broad range of conditions are particularly common within the field of mental health. There are a number of possible reasons for this including the prevalence of co and multimorbidity (Barnett et al, 2012) , misdiagnosis (Meyer & Meyer, 2009) and transient classifications of disease (Fiorillo et al, 2013) . Examples of such services that are designed to address multiple conditions include liaison psychiatry, forensic mental health care, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT, in the UK), and transitional services for those moving from youth to adult care.…”