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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

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A day at the museum: Using art to discuss transference and countertransference with medical students

A DAY AT THE MUSEUM: USING ART TO DISCUSS TRANSFERENCE AND COUNTERTRANSFERENCE WITH MEDICAL STUDENTS

An arts-based experiential museum activity made abstract psychodynamic concepts such as transference and countertransference more tangible for medical students and supported the development of reflective capacity.

Starting from the observation that clinical encounters are shaped not only by clinical knowledge but also by emotions, expectations, personal experiences, and transference and countertransference processes between clinician and patient, the study aimed to develop and evaluate an arts-based experiential activity to introduce these concepts, increase awareness of emotional and subjective responses, and encourage reflection on their potential influence on clinical encounters. As part of the Medical Psychology course at the University of São Paulo School of Medicine, third-year students visited the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) after a preparatory class and worked with selected artworks in small groups. In a structured reflective exercise based on ekphrasis, students were asked to describe their observations, emotional responses, associations, expectations, and bodily sensations. Curatorial information about the artworks was initially withheld to prioritize subjective experience; these experiences were subsequently linked to the concepts of transference and countertransference through group discussions facilitated by faculty members. Faculty members observed that the activity generated high levels of engagement and rich reflective discussion. In structured feedback from forty-nine students, 67% gave positive ratings for increased interest in the topic, 71% for stimulation of critical thinking, and 73% for alignment with course objectives. Students reported that the experience made psychodynamic concepts more concrete and relatable. By demonstrating that meaning, affect, expectations, and personal associations can emerge even when encountering unfamiliar artworks, the exercise provided a parallel to clinical encounters. The authors concluded that arts-based experiential learning could be a valuable complementary approach to teaching relational and psychodynamic concepts in medical education.

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