Fonagy, Peter;
(2024)
Mentalizing psychiatric training.
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
, 149
(3)
pp. 173-176.
0.1111/acps.13662.
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Abstract
In their remarkable paper Castellini and colleagues (1) provide us with not so much a survey but a census of psychiatric trainees in Italy with a remarkable response rate of over 80% compared with a more quotidian comparison group of medical trainees at a similar point of their professional development. The comprehensiveness of their approach permits a tentative conclusion about the average mental state of psychiatric residents – it seems young doctors do not generally go into the mental health specialty to address their own psychological needs, trainee psychiatrists are on average less neurotic notwithstanding above average childhood adversity. The report also adds to the growing literature that trainees who feel supported and mentally well will perform better in the workplace in the long run (2), at least in terms of symptoms of burnout. The study, being cross-sectional and relying solely on self-report data, inherently restricts the extent to which we can confidently infer causality from the observed associations. However, with the authors’ indication that future longitudinal data might be provided, it is worthwhile to cautiously consider the implications of the reported correlations. For this purpose, we shall make the generous assumption that these correlations represent authentic associations and are not skewed by factors like recall bias, social desirability bias, or the impact of any unmeasured confounding variables. The correlations, albeit tentative, provide a starting point for deeper investigation into the factors contributing to burnout and the potential avenues for intervention, while fully recognising their limitations we can acknowledge the value they add to the ongoing discourse on mental health and resilience in medical training.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Mentalizing psychiatric training |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 0.1111/acps.13662 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.13662 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10185224 |
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