[Use of standardized patients in the psycho-social subjects of medical studies--applicability of standardized patients in postgraduate psychotherapy training curricula?].

Due to the successful use of standardized patients (SPs) in medical studies, possible fields of application for SPs in postgraduate psychotherapy training were examined on the basis of a systematic literature research (ranging from 1982 to 2011) on the use of SPs in the fields of psychotherapy, medical psychology, psychosomatic medicine, and psychiatry. The results show that SPs are used predominantly for teaching communication and counseling techniques, history taking, and assessment of psychopathology and are commonly used to portray patients with affective disorders, neurotic, stress and somatoform disorders and schizophrenia, as well as schizotypal and delusional disorders. The use of SPs is generally rated positively with regard to subjective learning effects, satisfaction, and authenticity. Hence, the results suggest that postgraduate psychotherapy training curricula might benefit from the implementation of SPs.