A Prospective Study of the Influence of Post-Graduate Training in Psychiatry on the Rating of Mental Abnormality
M. J. KELLEHER M.D., M.Phil., B.Sc., M.R.C.Psych.1
1 Senior Lecturer Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF
During their first three days at the Bethlem-Maudsley Hospitals, registrars rated a timed videotaped clinical interview of a psychiatric patient with symptoms suggestive of schizophrenic, affective and neurotic disorders. They rated the observed abnormalities on a scale (IMPS) written in non-technical language. At the end of two years, training they re-rated the same tape, using the same scale. Comparisons were made between the registrars' initial and subsequent ratings and also between the registrars' initial ratings and the ratings made on the same tape by Maudsley and American psychiatrists. The registrars' initial ratings were intermediate between those of Maudsley and American psychiatrists and that after two years training they rated less mental abnormality. The significance of these findings is discussed.
Submitted on March 4, 1974
