Formal Didactic Program

Throughout the residency program, all residents have protected time for didactic lectures and seminars for half a day per week.  The content of these didactic sessions in each year is described below.  In addition, Departmental Grand Rounds are held every other week during the academic year and there is a wide variety of weekly teaching conferences at each clinical site.

The PGY-1 didactics include psychiatric interviewing; an introduction to emergency psychiatry; diagnosis and treatment of DSM-IV disorders; introduction to psychopharmacology; introduction to psychotherapies; teaching medical students; cross-cultural psychiatry; and the history of psychiatry. For one hour a week, the PGY-4s teach a seminar for PGY-1s covering a wide variety of topics including clinical problem-solving, issues in contemporary psychiatry, and the role of the psychiatrist. In addition to the three hours of psychiatry didactics weekly throughout the year, the Department of Medicine teaches 20 hours of Medicine internship didactics per year for all PGY-1s.

The PGY-2 didactic program includes two courses, Foundations of Contemporary Psychiatry and Introduction to Psychotherapy. Foundations of Contemporary Psychiatry is an innovative, integrated, patient-focused, and multidisciplinary series covering major psychiatric syndromes from different perspectives, including neurobiology, psychodynamics, empirical psychology, and sociocultural approaches.  Major syndromes, such as mood disorders, psychosis, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and psychosomatic medicine are covered in 6-10 week modules taught by teams of faculty. The Introduction to Psychotherapy course is a 6-month interactive series using videotapes and case vignettes to teach principles common to all psychotherapeutic modalities. In the second half of the year, the course includes an introduction to psychodynamic theory, learning theory, and motivational interviewing. In addition to these formal Thursday morning didactics, the PGY-2 year includes weekly psychotherapy seminars (Basic Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy) during continuity clinic.

The PGY-3 year didactics include child psychiatry and development, geriatric psychiatry, and modules in cross-cultural psychiatry; psychiatry with women and ethnic minorities; ethics; spirituality and psychiatry; community psychiatry; neuroscience; evidence-based psychiatry, and psychotherapies, including group and couples therapy.  A 9-month weekly clinical interaction (countertransference) seminar explores the dynamics of the patient-psychiatrist relationship.

PGY-4 didactics include a monthly journal club and an Advanced Psychopharmacology seminar.  In a 6-month Integration course, the PGY-4 group integrates different theoretical perspectives and treatment approaches in psychiatry in exploring in depth clinical cases or a psychiatric disorder. In addition, weekly lectures cover preparation for practice, forms of psychiatric practice, current issues in health care delivery, administrative psychiatry, forensics, techniques of teaching, review of neurology, and other special topics determined by the interests of the PGY-4 group.