Psychotherapy Committee Report: November 2020

The MPS Psychotherapy Committee continues to be quite active. On Saturday, Nov. 14, we will present our next Psychotherapy CME Conference (virtually, via Zoom): Psychosocial Treatment of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. The morning will be two talks and a joint case presentation devoted to the assessment and treatment of ADHD with psychodynamic and cognitive therapy. In the afternoon, three talks and a speakers’ question-and-answer panel are devoted to autism spectrum disorders. In addition to presenting multiple psychosocial treatment approaches, we will also feature the parents of a young man with a neurodevelopmental disorder.

Committee member Margo Goldman, MD, has been named to the 12-member Steering Committee of the APA Psychotherapy Caucus. She joins Margaret Tuttle, MD, who has been a Steering Committee member since 2015. Dr Goldman has spearheaded a national initiative, through the APA Psychotherapy Caucus, to promote the formation of Psychotherapy Committees at District Branches throughout the APA. See Psych News at: https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2020.8b16. Massachusetts is one of only two District Branches nationally to have a Psychotherapy Committee, so the MPS is a national leader in its commitment to psychiatrists practicing psychotherapy. Sharing our experience can help encourage nascent psychotherapy committees to come to fruition.

We continue to maintain and update the list of Psychotherapy Training resources, available on the MPS website.

On June 4, there was a leadership change in our committee. Robert Goisman, MD, Founding Co-Chair of the committee, stepped down as co-chair since 2014. Succeeding him is Stephen "Chip" McDermott, MD, who has been an active member of our committee for a number of years and will be one of the speakers at our November conference. We thank Dr. Goisman for his service and look forward to Dr. McDermott's leadership alongside Dr. Tuttle, who has been a Co-Chair since 2016.