TY - JOUR
AU - J. B. Potash
AU - A. McClanahan
AU - J. Davidson
AU - W. Butler
AU - N. Carroll
AU - A. Ruble
AU - M. Yaden
AU - D. King
AU - J. Torous
AU - P. P. Zandi
AU - K. G. Kennedy
AU - T. E. Smith
AU - A. Waghray
AU - R. Trestman
AU - M. Wills
A1 - 
AB - OBJECTIVE: The American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued a 2023 report on the future of psychiatry, focusing on how the organization should position itself in relation to coming developments over the next 10 years. Here, we follow up with a discussion of how the psychiatrist's role needs to evolve to adapt to the changes ahead. METHODS: We drew on senior experts and junior trainees within the APA's Council on Healthcare Systems and Financing, along with additional content experts, to choose areas of focus and discuss their interrelationships. Literature review focused on publications with implications of these areas for future training and practice. RESULTS: We are only ∼5% of the mental health work force, and we have unique strengths, including training providing us the ability to discern the varied factors contributing to distress, and direct and apply interventions across all available modalities. Psychiatrists make best use of our capabilities when we lead the process of comprehensively formulating patients' problems and generating a multi-faceted treatment approach. We have chosen six areas where we envision new developments impacting how psychiatrists will practice and residents should train: digital data and precision medicine, measurement-based care, artificial intelligence (AI), psychotherapy, integrated care, and care for the seriously mentally ill. We provide suggestions regarding next steps that will allow us to make the best use of our training and expand access to high quality diagnosis and care. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: We will need to handle the most challenging cases: the most psychiatrically complex, medically complex, and treatment-resistant. We must preserve our skill, unique among physicians, in psychotherapeutic approaches, even as we manage psychiatric illness. We must also adapt and become more tech-savvy, as digital data, mobile and computer-based treatments, electronic medical records, and AI algorithms take on increasing prominence in our field.
AD - Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore Maryland USA.; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Medical University of South Carolina Charleston South Carolina USA.; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences University of Washington Seattle Washington USA.; Department of Psychiatry Harvard Medical School Boston Massachusetts USA.; Jersey Shore University Medical Center Hackensack New Jersey USA.; Department of Psychiatry University of Texas, Southwestern School of Medicine Dallas Texas USA.; Department of Psychiatry Yale School of Medicine New Haven Connecticut USA.; Department of Psychiatry Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons New York New York USA.; Well Being Trust Behavioral Medicine at Providence Seattle Washington USA.; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Roanoke Virginia USA.; American Psychiatric Association Washington District of Columbia USA.
AN - 40548322
BT - Psychiatr Res Clin Pract
C5 - Education & Workforce
CP - 2
DA - Summer
DO - 10.1176/appi.prcp.20240130
DP - NLM
ET - 20250327
IS - 2
JF - Psychiatr Res Clin Pract
LA - eng
N2 - OBJECTIVE: The American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued a 2023 report on the future of psychiatry, focusing on how the organization should position itself in relation to coming developments over the next 10 years. Here, we follow up with a discussion of how the psychiatrist's role needs to evolve to adapt to the changes ahead. METHODS: We drew on senior experts and junior trainees within the APA's Council on Healthcare Systems and Financing, along with additional content experts, to choose areas of focus and discuss their interrelationships. Literature review focused on publications with implications of these areas for future training and practice. RESULTS: We are only ∼5% of the mental health work force, and we have unique strengths, including training providing us the ability to discern the varied factors contributing to distress, and direct and apply interventions across all available modalities. Psychiatrists make best use of our capabilities when we lead the process of comprehensively formulating patients' problems and generating a multi-faceted treatment approach. We have chosen six areas where we envision new developments impacting how psychiatrists will practice and residents should train: digital data and precision medicine, measurement-based care, artificial intelligence (AI), psychotherapy, integrated care, and care for the seriously mentally ill. We provide suggestions regarding next steps that will allow us to make the best use of our training and expand access to high quality diagnosis and care. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: We will need to handle the most challenging cases: the most psychiatrically complex, medically complex, and treatment-resistant. We must preserve our skill, unique among physicians, in psychotherapeutic approaches, even as we manage psychiatric illness. We must also adapt and become more tech-savvy, as digital data, mobile and computer-based treatments, electronic medical records, and AI algorithms take on increasing prominence in our field.
PY - 2025
SN - 2575-5609
SP - 80
EP - 90+
ST - The Future of the Psychiatrist
T1 - The Future of the Psychiatrist
T2 - Psychiatr Res Clin Pract
TI - The Future of the Psychiatrist
U1 - Education & Workforce
U3 - 10.1176/appi.prcp.20240130
VL - 7
VO - 2575-5609
Y1 - 2025
ER -