The number of psychiatric researchers does not seem to be keeping pace with the needs and opportunities that exist in brain and behavioral medicine. An Institute of Medicine committee conducted a broad review of the state of patient-oriented research training in the context of the psychiatry residency and considered the obstacles to such training and strategies for overcoming those obstacles. Careful consideration was given to the demands of clinical training. The committee concluded that barriers to research training span three categories: regulatory, institutional, and personal factors. Recommendations to address these issues are presented in the committee’s report, including calling for research literacy requirements and research training curricula tailored to psychiatry residency programs of various sizes. The roles of senior investigators and departmental leadership are emphasized in the report, as is the importance of longitudinal training (e.g., from medical school through residency and fellowship). As there appears to be great interest among numerous stakeholders and a need for better tracking data, an overarching recommendation calls for the establishment of a national body to coordinate and evaluate the progress of research training in psychiatry.
The number of psychiatric researchers does not seem to be keeping pace with the needs and opportunities that exist in brain and behavioral medicine. An Institute of Medicine committee conducted a broad review of the state of patient-oriented research training in the context of the psychiatry residency and considered the obstacles to such training and strategies for overcoming those obstacles. Careful consideration was given to the demands of clinical training. The committee concluded that barriers to research training span three categories: regulatory, institutional, and personal factors. Recommendations to address these issues are presented in the committee's report, including calling for research literacy requirements and research training curricula tailored to psychiatry residency programs of various sizes. The roles of senior investigators and departmental leadership are emphasized in the report, as is the importance of longitudinal training (e.g., from medical school through residency and fellowship). As there appears to be great interest among numerous stakeholders and a need for better tracking data, an overarching recommendation calls for the establishment of a national body to coordinate and evaluate the progress of research training in psychiatry.
Many thousands of international graduate physicians from diverse medical specialties serve the health care needs of the United States, and one-in-four psychiatry residents are international medical graduates. International Medical Graduate Physicians: A Guide to Training was created by prominent leaders in academic psychiatry to support the success of these international medical graduate physicians as they complete their clinical training and enter the physician workforce in this country. This insightful title has been developed as a valuable resource, filled with key information and personal narratives, to foster optimal wellbeing and decisionmaking of IMG physicians as they navigate their careers. The text is thorough in scope and replete with perspectives, reflections, and tailored guidance for the reader. Many of the chapters are based on the direct and diverse life experiences of the authors. A unique and thoughtful contribution to the literature, this Guide will be of great value to international physicians and to their teachers and supervisors in psychiatry as well as other specialties of medicine.
The Social Determinants of Mental Health aims to fill the gap that exists in the psychiatric, scholarly, and policy-related literature on the social determinants of mental health: those factors stemming from where we learn, play, live, work, and age that impact our overall mental health and well-being. The editors and an impressive roster of chapter authors from diverse scholarly backgrounds provide detailed information on topics such as discrimination and social exclusion; adverse early life experiences; poor education; unemployment, underemployment, and job insecurity; income inequality, poverty, and neighborhood deprivation; food insecurity; poor housing quality and housing instability; adverse features of the built environment; and poor access to mental health care. This thought-provoking book offers many beneficial features for clinicians and public health professionals: Clinical vignettes are included, designed to make the content accessible to readers who are primarily clinicians and also to demonstrate the practical, individual-level applicability of the subject matter for those who typically work at the public health, population, and/or policy level. Policy implications are discussed throughout, designed to make the content accessible to readers who work primarily at the public health or population level and also to demonstrate the policy relevance of the subject matter for those who typically work at the clinical level. All chapters include five to six key points that focus on the most important content, helping to both prepare the reader with a brief overview of the chapter's main points and reinforce the "take-away" messages afterward. In addition to the main body of the book, which focuses on selected individual social determinants of mental health, the volume includes an in-depth overview that summarizes the editors' and their colleagues' conceptualization, as well as a final chapter coauthored by Dr. David Satcher, 16th Surgeon General of the United States, that serves as a "Call to Action," offering specific actions that can be taken by both clinicians and policymakers to address the social determinants of mental health. The editors have succeeded in the difficult task of balancing the individual/clinical/patient perspective and the population/public health/community point of view, while underscoring the need for both groups to work in a unified way to address the inequities in twenty-first century America. The Social Determinants of Mental Health gives readers the tools to understand and act to improve mental health and reduce risk for mental illnesses for individuals and communities. Students preparing for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) will also benefit from this book, as the MCAT in 2015 will test applicants' knowledge of social determinants of health. The social determinants of mental health are not distinct from the social determinants of physical health, although they deserve special emphasis given the prevalence and burden of poor mental health.
Physicians who choose to serve in public-sector mental healthcare settings and physicians-in-training assigned to public-sector mental health clinics may not be fully prepared for the many roles of the public and community psychiatrist. Public and Community Psychiatry is a concise guide for the resident and early-career psychiatrist called upon to serve in the roles of public-sector clinician, team member, advocate, administrator, and academician. Each chapter includes a concise description of these various roles and responsibilities and offers engaging examples of the public psychiatrist at work, as well as case-based problems typical of those faced by the public psychiatrist. Each chapter also features works of art and literature, usually from the public domain, in order to incorporate the core strengths of medical humanities into the dialogue of public-sector mental healthcare. This book aims to provide a level of support to psychiatrists that fosters their desire, individually and collectively, to serve the poor and the marginalized with grit and determination, and to broadly consider their potential to improve not only their patients' well-being, but also these patients' incorporation into their respective communities.
The fascinating Psychopathology in the Genome and Neuroscience Era brings together selected topics in psychiatric genetics, epidemiology and prevention, and neuroscience and education. This key reference integrates this information across the fields of genetics, epidemiology, and neuroscience to arrive at an understanding of where recent advances in genetics and neuroscience -- advances that promise to enhance our understanding of human behavior and psychopathology -- are likely to influence psychopathology research and education in the near future. How will the field of psychopathology incorporate the coming avalanche of information generated by these recent advances? The answer will influence not only how mental health professionals diagnose and treat patients but also how the next generation of professionals is trained. Chapters in this exciting compilation are based on individual talks by 20 international experts at the conceptual forefront of their respective fields given at the March 2003 American Psychopathological Association annual meeting. Organized into four main sections -- the future of psychiatric genetics, diagnosis and prevention of psychiatric disorders, neurobiology and psychiatric disorders, and the future of psychiatric education -- Psychopathology in the Genome and Neuroscience Era focuses on a broad range of topics: The importance of a conceptual shift from identifying major genes for mental disorders to gaining an understanding of the role of which genes in which contexts, both biological and environmental, confer susceptibility to or protection from mental disorders or components thereof Historical perspective of gene susceptibility to mental disorders, with the same possibilities for use and misuse of genotype data as now exist for significantly heritable traits such as intelligence, and for borderline traits such as criminal behavior and alcoholism Reconceptualization of medicine and medical diagnoses to include molecular genetic components, including the importance of cell loss and neurogenesis in mood disorders Major phenotypic problems inherent in all attempts to measure psychopathology, starting with how to achieve reliability, and how to advance from reliability to validity in future revisions of DSM and ICD classifications Brain structural abnormalities in mood disorders; physiological cell death and whether or not this natural phenomenon can be converted into a pathological process, including the importance of cell loss and neurogenesis in mood disorders The influence of scientific advances, workforce issues, and educational trends on psychiatric training Psychopathology in the Genome and Neuroscience Era is a must-read reference work for anyone -- practitioners, residents, and students alike -- interested in the future of psychiatric genetics, epidemiology, and education.
This concise, yet comprehensive guide distills the most critical and current information on diagnosis and treatment so that residents and other beginning clinicians will have the tools they need to quickly assess and competently treat patients with psychiatric illnesses. Replete with diagnostic evaluation checklists, DSM-IV-TR criteria, and drug dosage tables, the Resident's Guide to Clinical Psychiatry is a practical and convenient one-stop resource that will make the resident's job significantly easier. Each of the 16 chapters has been structured logically and with the utmost care to guide residents through the psychiatric landscape. For example, the chapter on pharmacotherapy is organized by class of drug, with sections on mechanism of action, indications and efficacy, and tips for medication selection. This is followed by detailed information on specific drugs -- their clinical use, risks, side effects, management, and potential interactions. This depth of coverage is matched by breadth of subject, with chapters on central topics such as mood disorders and dementia, in addition to special chapters on consultation-liaison psychiatry, emergency psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and electroconvulsive therapy and device-based treatments. Whether employed as a text or an on-the-fly reference, this authoritative volume supplies everything the resident requires to provide a uniformly high level of psychiatric clinical care.
