Psychotherapy training is an essential component of a complete psychiatry residency program. Our residents receive didactic training and clinical experience in individual, family and group psychotherapy. The techniques of cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic psychotherapy are emphasized.
Cognitive-Behavioral Training
Rick Handel, Ph.D., teaches the CBT course in the PGY-1 year. He supervises the
clinical experience and the case conferences along with Barbara Cubic, Ph.D.,
and David Spiegel, Ph.D.
Psychodynamic Training
Psychodynamic psychotherapy training is continuous throughout the second, third and fourth years of residency.
The PGY-1 introductory course is taught by Janet Schiff, LCSW, a local
psychoanalyst. The didactic courses for the second-, third-, and fourth-year
residents are taught by Jerome Blackman, M.D., FAPA, FIPA, FAPsa, who is a
clinical professor in the department of psychiatry at EVMS, a locally based
training and supervising analyst with the Psychoanalytic Training Institute of
the New York Freudian Society in Washington, D.C. (a component institute of the
International Psychoanalytical Association) and a fellow of the American College
of Psychoanalysts.
Each resident carries several long-term psychodynamic patients, and it is through individual supervision of cases that the essence of psychodynamic technique is learned. Weekly case supervision is available with psychiatrists within the department as well as affiliated faculty members in the community.
Second-, third-, and fourth-year residents also engage in a bi-monthly
continuous case conference with Paul Sayegh, M.D., and Jorge Cortina, M.D.
Group and Family Psychotherapy
Group therapy and family therapy are taught in the second year of didactics. During the third year of training, EVMS residents join Portsmouth Naval Hospital psychiatry residents for a full year of outpatient psychodynamic group psychotherapy. Residents are encouraged to incorporate family therapy into their third-year outpatient experience.
