Learning dynamic psychotherapy in psychiatric training

At a time when psychiatric training is undergoing major shifts in response to social and economic pressures, it is crucial to preserve the trainee's opportunity to learn the techniques of dynamic psychotherapy. The author describes the course of the treatment of a patient to illustrate the way in which the central psychological issue had to be learned by sitting with her through the evolution of its discovery. This process of independent, experimental learning is crucial for the trainee's development of a sound and flexible understanding of the basic principles of psychodynamics.