The Nottingham experiential day in psychotherapy: a new approach to teaching psychotherapy to medical students.

A prime objective in teaching psychotherapy to medical students is to convey a practical understanding of what happens and a sense of the pleasure and responsibility of working with another person to improve the quality of their relationships. In Nottingham an experiential day was developed during the psychiatry clerkship; the teaching is by doing rather than describing, while spontaneity and individual expression are encouraged; the experience is valued by most and forgotten by none; it would be improved by a second experiential day or by a weekly forum for discussion of the personal and patient-care issues raised.