Training Therapy of Psychotherapists: Professional Socialization as Interprofessional Relations

Abstract

One aspect of professional socialization unique to mental health workers is training therapy. It is shown empirically in one large city that only one (psychoanalysis) of the four primary mental health professions (also including psychiatry, clinical psychology, and psychiatric social work) usually provides this kind of socialization. This tendency can be interpreted as showing that the practice of psychoanalysis is the core set of symbolic tasks in psychotherapy and any sharing of it has symbolic value for the other mental health professions. If this interpretation is correct, then one would expect to find in further research that professionals in the other three mental health professions, who have undergone training therapy from a psychoanalyst, would have higher status, more rapid job advancement, and be “core” leaders in their own professions.