The Indian Teachers of Psychiatry (IToP) and Indian Psychiatric Society (IPS) have jointly released a consensus on psychotherapy training in Indian medical institutions at the National Conference on Psychiatry, recently held at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhopal.
In a statement here, Dr. M. Kishor, psychiatry professor and head of department of psychiatry, JSS Medical College, Mysuru, and also the chairperson of the IPS Sub-Committee on Postgraduation Education, said that psychotherapy training is an important and crucial aspect of psychiatry training for doctors so that optimal care is provided to patients with mental health issues.
While the World Health Organisation in its recent 2025 report highlighted that one billion people globally suffer from one or the other mental illness, the National Mental Health Survey in India said one in every seven persons in the country had a mental health issue.
Unfortunately, there has been concern about inadequate psychotherapy training across Indian medical institutions, as noted in a national survey conducted by Dr. Ajay Kumar from AIIMS, Raipur, and published in a peer-reviewed journal of IPS called ‘Indian Journal of Psychiatry’ in 2024, he said.
To address this issue, the IToP and IPS’s Sub-Committee on Undergraduate and Postgraduate Education initiated a survey to collect opinions and suggestions from all stakeholders, including patients, undergraduate medical students, postgraduate psychiatry students, psychiatry teachers, and experts from India and abroad.
Based on a year-long survey, a consensus on psychotherapy training, the first of its kind in the history of medical education in India, was released at the National Conference on Psychiatry at AIIMS, Bhopal.
“The consensus highlights that psychotherapy is an integral part of psychiatry training, and undergraduate medical students in India should be exposed to basic psychotherapy training throughout medical education, particularly focusing on evidence-based brief psychotherapy training models such as the BATHE technique, which is a simple patient-centred procedure that consists of a series of specific questions about the patient’s background, affect, troubles, and handling of the current situation, followed by an empathic response,” Dr. Kishor’s statement read.
He added that the principles of psychotherapy and desirable therapist qualities should be emphasised in all phases of training to optimise doctor-patient interaction and achieve outcomes such as hope, improved communication, greater confidence, composure, objectivity, and reasoning.
The consensus document highlights that psychotherapy training in psychiatry postgraduate education is crucial and should be mandatory, with specific hours of exposure, supervision, and assessment by psychiatry faculty.
“The psychotherapy training period for psychiatry postgraduates should be 60-100 hours for Diploma in Psychological Medicine/Diplomate of National Board in Psychiatry/Doctor of Medicine in Psychiatry/Post Doctorate Fellowship in Psychiatry Superspeciality courses and 150 hours for the Doctorate of Medicine programme. At least six to 10 cases should be taken up by every postgraduate for psychotherapy in the training period, and formulations should be meticulously documented for evaluation at the end of the training period,” Dr Kishor stated.
Published – November 30, 2025 07:28 pm IST
