Why a psychoanalytic core in psychiatric education?

The author presents arguments for a historical psychogenetic approach to psychiatric education with a focus on psychodynamic understanding of behavior. Psychoanalysis provides a developmental psychology and a body of clinical data that are uniquely suited to this purpose. This focus is meant to be complemented by consideration of genetic, social, cultural, learning, and biophysiological forces. The author relates trends in psychiatric education to the changing identity of the psychiatrist and the history of the discipline.