Psychosocial formulation training using commercial films

With the explosion of neurobiology research in psychiatry the ability of ps ychiatry residents to construct psychosocial formulations for their patient s appears to have declined. Although the traditional methods of teaching ps ychosocial case formulation (written references, individual psychotherapy s upervision, clinical case conferences) remain important and effective, the changing orientation of academic psychiatry as well as the decreasing time allotted to psychotherapy suggest that psychosocial formulation training mu st increasingly compete with the myriad other aspects of psychiatry to whic h residents are exposed. Over the past 5 years, we have complemented the tr aditional psychosocial formulation curriculum with a highly structured teac hing venue in which psychiatry residents regularly observe commercial films and then, as a group, construct psychosocial formulations for the principa l characters. In this article, the author reviews the opportunities, advant ages, and success of this complementary approach.