What's residency like and q about psychtherapy oriented programs

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roady

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Hi everyone,

I hope you could clear up my confusion as a lowly MS2.
I wondered if almost all psych res programs are 4 years, and the 1st is the "intern" year. About the intern year--is it a time when you rotate through different specialties and do work there as a general "doctor"?? For examples: are you called upon to do months in family medicine and treat wounds, ingrown toenails, heart problems, and all sorts of other medical maladies generally unrelated to psychiatry? Called into OBGYN to help deliver? Spending several other months on the ER in the hospital, etc, etc?? If not, what are you doing during that intern 1st year?

As for the type of therapy you are taught, does anyone attend a residency in which med-management and cog-behavioral approaches take a back seat to psychotherapy--and especially non-Freudian psychotherapy. For example, I know that the existential psychiatrist Dr. Yallom is at Stanford. Or was. Does that mean there is a strong emphasis on philosophical, meaning-based therapies there??

Thanks a lot for your help guys. These posts and your taking the time to answer make all the difference. :luck:

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Generally, the pgy-1 year is comprised of six months of psychiatry, two months of neurology, and four months of primary care (a combination of family medicine, ER, internal medicine, and pediatrics with the exact combination and level of responsibility on those rotations -- i.e., functioning as a "medicine intern" versus more of an observer -- varying from program to program).

As for psychotherapy, programs are required to prove that residents achieve "competency" in a certain number of therapies. How the individual programs do this varies widely and the overall emphasis on psychodynamic vs. cbt vs. other styles varies as well depending on the current faculty and program structure. Since you are in the earlier part of med school, you have plenty of time to start looking at webpages and talking with people at your school to get an idea of what is out there.
 
Thanks a lot for your reply, Asher. Big relief to hear that most of the 1st intern year is primarily doing psychiatry/neurology--but it is still kind of weird that there is the family medicine/peds/etc...

Well, anyhow, how long is the whole affair? I mean counting the intern year--I've heard 3 and most say 4. Also if you're up to it--do you know the 3 year residencies off hand? I've heard peds and EM and family medicine (but I thought family was 4 years myself).

Thanks a lot Asher, and all you other SDNer too! :)
 
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Psychiatry is a four year residency. The three year programs that I can think of right now include internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics. EM is a "three" year residency that actually is four years as a transitional or prelim year is required before starting the actual ER component. Some ER programs, IIRC, have a transitional year included and for others you must match for a prelim year separately.

Going back to psych, if you choose to do a fellowship you will most likely take five years total. The majority of fellowships start after the fourth year of residency with child beginning after the third and taking two years to complete.
 
I have heard of Cambridge hopsital's psych program is psychotherapy heavy. Most programs out there are more biological. My knowledge on these specifics are very limited.
 
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