IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION TRAINING FOR PSYCHIATRIC-RESIDENTS AND MENTAL-HEALTH TRAINEES

Through the illustration of a clinical vignette and excerpts from inte rviews with trainees, this paper suggests that communication and commu nication disorders are essential issues in child psychiatry training. The vignette shows how communication issues pervade a multidisciplinar y psychoeducational day treatment program. The importance of communica tion in the clinical experience and its impact on the professional pre paration of psychiatry residents and mental health trainees are examin ed, and conclusions and recommendations for the goals of a training pr ogram in child psychiatry are presented which expand upon those findin gs.