There is much confusion about the professional identity of the psychiatrist; there is no consensus about the knowledge, expertness and skills a psychiatrist ought to have, nor is there a general agreement as regards the basic attitude and professional ethics of the psychiatrist. In this situation the problem of how the training of psychiatrists needs to be organised could be approached from two sides: on the one hand one can try to answer the question how the professional psychiatrist is typified in the various training centres; on the other hand one can study the way the training-programmes in those centres are mapped out and constructed. Both aspects are clarified here out of the situation as it is at this moment in 'Licht en Kracht' and 'Port Natal', a regional mental hospital and training centre for psychiatrists. This could be a starting point for further reflection both from a theoretical point of view — i.e. the typification of the psychiatrist — and from a practical point of view — i.e. the existing training-programmes. This could be of importance not only for the further development of thoughts as to how an ideal training-scheme of psychiatrists should be, but also for the search of unanimity about the professional identity of the psychiatrists.