The definition of a psychiatrist: eight years later

Abstract

In 1980, psychiatric practitioners and educators were surveyed to determine their concepts of the knowledge and skills that define a specialist in psychiatry. The authors repeated this survey, expanding the list of skill and knowledge items and asking respondents to comment on whether particular skills or knowledge were important to a psychiatric subspecialty. Less importance was ascribed in the current survey than in the earlier survey to certain long-term and social psychotherapies, and more importance was ascribed to descriptive or biological psychiatry; brief or supportive therapies; psychopharmacological agents; consultation-liaison psychiatry; evaluation of children, the aged, and alcoholics; and certain desirable personal characteristics of the psychiatrist.