Anyone going to APA in Toronto?
 

Just curious if anyone is going to the American Psychiatric Association's meeting may 20-25. Since I live in Toronto, I plan to take the opportunity to attend some of it. Not a lot is focused on CBT, but there are a few talks of note; Aaron Beck is speaking, and a few CBT courses and seminars are being offered.

For that matter, I'm curious if there are any other psychiatrists following this forum. It seems that CBT has caught on among psychologists far more than with psychiatrists, although I'm not totally sure of the reasons for this. I have some theories, but if anyone has some ideas, it would be interesting to hear, as to why psychiatry has been so slow to adopt CBT.

Neil Levitsky
Toronto, Canada

Re: Anyone going to APA in Toronto?
 

Here is a link to a study of CBT training in psychiatry residencies.

http://ap.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/26/2/96


This research confirms my impression that most residency programs maintain a mult-generational bias for psychoanalytic approaches. Though these programs emphasize evidence-based psychopharmacology, there seems to be far less interest in evidence-based psychotherapy like CBT.

CBT and Psychiatry
 

I'm not sure that Psychiatry has been particularly slow to embrace CBT, at least in the US. Certainly, psychoanalysis was quite entrenched in psychiatric circles at first, but that's changed quite a bit over the past 25 years. These days, CBT is one of the "core competencies" that all psychiatry residents in the US are expected to master by the time they complete their residencies. (This, of course, does not mean that they necessarily master CBT or practice CBT)

My sense is that, in the US at least, psychiatrists face considerable time pressure and economic pressure that makes it difficult for them to practice much psychotherapy of any sort. They find it hard to do much therapy because it is difficult for them to see patients frequently enough and for long enough appointments.

Would any psychiatrists care to comment?