Modes of experience and psychiatric education

The authors present two modes of experiencing that are applicable to the present practice of psychiatry. A rational active psychiatrist operates from a rational, causal tradition and provides active intervention. A sensuous receptive psychiatrist emphasizes the subjectivity, intuition, and openness to encounter, and is more involved in relationships than in active intervention. A psychiatrist may work in only one mode because of ignorance, erratically switch modes, work in primarily one but appreciate another, or - most desired - work in both modes in a complementary manner. Psychiatrists working with these modes of experience present special problems in teaching residents. The authors analyze the problems in terms of resident patient interaction and supervisor resident interaction. The best teaching occurs when a fully aware supervising psychiatrist who works in both modes can consistently and sensitively communicate these modes to the resident psychiatrist.