Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is an integral component of training at UCLA-Olive View. Residents begin formal psychotherapy training in the intern year and continuously build their skills throughout their four years in the program.

During PGY-1, residents learn a variety of supportive techniques appropriate for the acutely ill patient and apply these skills in the inpatient setting.

Beginning in PGY-2, residents begin practicing psychiatry in an outpatient clinic, allowing them to learn and practice more advanced psychotherapy techniques appropriate to the outpatient setting. PGY-2s have psychotherapy-oriented didactics and learn the basics of psychodynamic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and other modalities.

PGY-3 and PGY-4 residents continue to receive direct supervision from faculty on psychotherapy cases and have opportunities to expand into treating patients in individual and group settings. Formal didactics related to psychotherapy continue through these years and cover topics such as advanced cognitive behavioral therapy and advanced therapeutics, interpersonal therapy, anxiolytic techniques, and termination issues.

In terms of dedicated psychotherapy supervision, which is critical to the development of every early psychotherapist, every single PGY-2, PGY-3, and PGY-4 resident in our program is assigned to at least one individual psychotherapy supervisor on our core faculty with whom they review and discuss their patient cases. In addition to this, interested residents who wish to dedicate more time to psychotherapeutic training can take advantage of additional opportunities through our program’s electives with specific faculty. Los Angeles is also home to multiple psychoanalytic institutes and residents who are interested in more intensive training often attend lectures and take courses offered by those organizations. There is no shortage of opportunities for residents in our training program to enrich their growth, knowledge, and skills in psychotherapy.