More Robust OBGYN Psychiatry Training?

[Metamorphosis.DO]

Interested in OB but got a question for my brothers and sisters in psychiatry.

I am wondering how an OBGYN resident can get more robust training in psychiatry.
For both personal reasons and just seeing the need, I really hope to become very competent in this area. I realize that psychiatry and counseling is often the golden standard for more severe cases of PPD, PMDD, etc but I hope to provide a better bridge until those services can be rendered. I also want to do the best I can for the cases I do co-manage with psychology/counseling.

I don’t believe there are fellowships though I’ve seen they are in the process of starting them potentially.

What can I look for in a residency to get this exposure? What can I do beyond residency? I’m about to start rotations, what can I do now? Any ideas are much appreciated.

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[SmallBird]

Interested in OB but got a question for my brothers and sisters in psychiatry.

I am wondering how an OBGYN resident can get more robust training in psychiatry.
For both personal reasons and just seeing the need, I really hope to become very competent in this area. I realize that psychiatry and counseling is often the golden standard for more severe cases of PPD, PMDD, etc but I hope to provide a better bridge until those services can be rendered. I also want to do the best I can for the cases I do co-manage with psychology/counseling.

I don’t believe there are fellowships though I’ve seen they are in the process of starting them potentially.

What can I look for in a residency to get this exposure? What can I do beyond residency? I’m about to start rotations, what can I do now? Any ideas are much appreciated.

There is a fellowship in this at Women and Infants Hospital in Providence but I'm not sure if they take OBGYB residents. You should check it out if they do. It's definitely a center of expertise in the area.

 

[nexus73]

Is there any way to build a half day elective psychiatry clinic into 3rd and 4th year? Or maybe just request to take on more women with mental health needs in your residency coming and organize supervision with one of the psychiatry residency attendings?

 

[Ivos]

You could consider going to therapy yourself. Beyond personal growth it might help you get in to a psychological viewpoint, which in turn could help when interacting with the less severe patients.

 

[FlowRate]

It sounds like you're a preclinical student about to start clinical rotations, if I understood your OP correctly, so I'd say the most important thing is getting comfortable asking people about their feelings and developing comfort with a few first-line treatments. You should be able to accomplish that goal if you work hard in your psych core rotation and primary care experiences. If still not feeling comfortable toward the end of your core clinical rotations, I'd recommend doing a CL psych sub-I.

As far as residency goes, I'm not sure how much this is a thing, but you might look for residency programs that see OB/GYN more significantly as a primary care specialty than residencies where it's more of a specialty model. Or do a residency somewhere that has a very robust women's MH psych department (MGH/MGB is another place for this.)

 

[Celexa]

If you're a medical student, just focus on doing well on your rotations and be open about your interest on psychiatry and people will likely be very supportive.

I recommend seeking out a CL (consultation) psychiatry elective as an M4, as this is one of the highest yield psych areas for non-psychiatrists. Also, consider a palliative care elective--this can be really useful for learning how to talk to patients who are in distress.

As a resident (most likely in your senior years, as as an intern and a junior your energy is usually completely taken by your own specialty) you can seek out additional electives. I recommend trying to match somewhere that also has a psych residency and then reaching out to the psychiatry residency director asking about electives.

 

[tr]

Interested in OB but got a question for my brothers and sisters in psychiatry.

I am wondering how an OBGYN resident can get more robust training in psychiatry.
For both personal reasons and just seeing the need, I really hope to become very competent in this area. I realize that psychiatry and counseling is often the golden standard for more severe cases of PPD, PMDD, etc but I hope to provide a better bridge until those services can be rendered. I also want to do the best I can for the cases I do co-manage with psychology/counseling.

I don’t believe there are fellowships though I’ve seen they are in the process of starting them potentially.

What can I look for in a residency to get this exposure? What can I do beyond residency? I’m about to start rotations, what can I do now? Any ideas are much appreciated.

There are numerous reproductive psychiatry fellowships. A partial list can be found here:

Directory of Fellowship Programs | International Society of Reproductive Psychiatry

reproductivepsychiatry.com

I have never heard of someone coming into them from obstetrics rather than psych but depending on the structure of the fellowship I am sure that could be figured out.

Repro psych is not ACGME accredited so the fellowships are on their own as far as funding and learning objectives. Some of them function as a specialization within a psych C/L fellowship or a concentration within a psych PGY4 program, and those might be harder to figure out how to tailor to an obstetrician. Others are more like a partial training position combined with a junior faculty position, and those are probably more flexible with respect to your training background. You'd have to contact the individual programs to ask.

Alternatively, you could see if the psych department at your institution has repro psych, and if so if you could do some elective time with them.

 

[Stagg737]

When you apply to residency, don't just look at the OB/gyn program but also psychiatry. See if there are attendings in the affiliated psych program who specialize in reproductive psych and find out if you can work with them. Where I'm at there is an outpatient reproductive psychiatrist who does a repro-psych elective for psychiatry residents, but knowing her I'd also imagine she'd love to have OB residents rotate with her as she also works with OB/gyn residency program/clinic about clinic procedures and policy.

There are many psych programs with reproductive psychiatrists associated, if you're really interested and actively search the mentors are there.

 

[Metamorphosis.DO]

You could consider going to therapy yourself. Beyond personal growth it might help you get in to a psychological viewpoint, which in turn could help when interacting with the less severe patients.

I think that’s a good idea! My school offers 10 hours of therapy a year. I will be sure to cash out before the end of year 3 to hopefully learn as much as I can.

 

[Metamorphosis.DO]

When you apply to residency, don't just look at the OB/gyn program but also psychiatry. See if there are attendings in the affiliated psych program who specialize in reproductive psych and find out if you can work with them. Where I'm at there is an outpatient reproductive psychiatrist who does a repro-psych elective for psychiatry residents, but knowing her I'd also imagine she'd love to have OB residents rotate with her as she also works with OB/gyn residency program/clinic about clinic procedures and policy.

There are many psych programs with reproductive psychiatrists associated, if you're really interested and actively search the mentors are there.

Very helpful— thank you!

 

[Metamorphosis.DO]

Thanks to everyone who has commented so far. All have been very helpful!