서언 : 정신과 의사와 정신치료

Introduction: Psychiatrist and Psychotherapy

Psychiatrists are expected to be willing to perform psychotherapy. However, psychiatrists maybe reluctant due to challenges involved in many situations. External factors such as policies related to the national health insurance system can be an obstacle to performing psychotherapy given that, the policy only tends to lower the cost of treatment. The other internal obstacle is the lack of self-confidence in the ability of therapists for performing psychotherapy. The reason for low self-confidence may stem from goals which were set excessively high and further from disappointment in their capabilities. Korean psychiatrists should feel confident in their professional ability with respect to psychotherapy because most of them not only have passed many exams successfully, but have also trained sufficiently. Psychiatrists should recall the motivation that they had when embarking on their career as a first year resident, when they were eager to learn about the human mind. The identity of psychiatry should bepsychotherapy itself. The study of psychotherapy was furthered by the findings of Eric Kandel, the Nobel laureate, who found thatneuronal development was affected by learning. With improved results from psychotherapy, as indicated by fMRI, a new mode of psychotherapy could be developed and should be applied not only to new those issues which cannot be treated successfully with biological treatments, but also in patients who may not want biological treatments. The contents of this volume have been introduced here. In making this supplement, the editors of the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association should receive many thanks for providing effective guidelines for many young psychiatrists who are eager to learn psychotherapy.