World Psychiatric Association-Asian Journal of Psychiatry Commission on Psychiatric Education in the 21st century

Psychiatric practice faces many challenges in the first quarter of 21st century. Society has transformed, as have
training requirements and patient expectations, underlining an urgent need to look at educational programmes.
Meanwhile, awareness has grown around psychiatric disorders and there are evolving workforce trends, with
more women going to medical school and specialising in psychiatry. Trainee psychiatrists carry different expectations
for work-life balance and are increasingly becoming conscious of their own mental health. A tendency
to see health as a commodity and the litigious nature of society has elicited additional pressures for healthcare
professionals. Cartesian mind-body dualism has created further complexity and this can often be frustrating for
patients and care-partners alike. In many cultures across Asia and beyond, patients can present with physical
symptoms to express underlying psychological distress with increasing physical investigations. Simultaneously,
in various countries, a shift from asylums to community-based interventions and then home treatments have
changed psychiatric care in remarkable ways. These changes have added to pressures faced by mental healthcare
professionals. However, trainees and other mental healthcare professionals continue to receive similar training as
they did a generation ago. The tensions and differences in ideology/orientation between different branches of
psychiatry have made responses to patient needs challenging. Recognising that it is difficult to predict the future,
this World Psychiatric Association-Asian Journal of Psychiatry Commission makes recommendations that could