PGY 2 Year
Schizophrenia and Related Disorders
Dr. Tom Smith, 2 months
Dimensions of schizophrenia are reviewed in this course: symptomatology, diagnosis, prognosis and the subjective experience, as well as the history and development of psychotic disorder classification. In addition, epidemiological and etiological studies, forensic and family studies, and the various treatment approaches are discussed. Particular attention is paid to current biological theories of both disease process and treatment.
Affective, Anxiety and Eating Disorders
Drs. Maria Oquendo, Elizabeth Sublette, Blair Simpson and Timothy Walsh, 5 months
This course covers the phenomenology, epidemiology and psychobiology of each disorder. Treatment is reviewed from both psychotherapeutic and pharmacological perspectives. Theoretical and practical material is carefully integrated.
Child Development
Dr. Daniel Chrzanowski, 3 months
Normative child development is the focus of this three month course. Physical and neurological growth, attachment, cognition, language acquisition and psychosocial/psychosexual maturation are discussed in the context of current and historical theories.
Substance Abuse
Dr. Frances Levin, 6 weeks
This course provides an overview of the major types of addiction, patterns of intoxication and withdrawal, and an introduction to treatment.
The Mental Status Exam
Dr. David Strauss, 1 month
This is an introductory course on the fundamentals of the psychiatric evaluation and mental status exam. It teaches residents how to take a history, describe and write-up patients using standard format and nomenclature.
The Initial Psychiatric Interview
Drs. Janis Cutler, Melissa Arbuckle, Robert Spitzer, and Michael First, 3 months
This course is a didactic and clinical experience in interviewing. Initial interviews with patients are done in class or on videotape by both residents and course instructors. The aim is to learn techniques that are helpful in arriving at an initial assessment that includes, but is not limited to, a psychiatric diagnosis. Faculty members demonstrate their own individual differences in interviewing, and residents are encouraged to integrate their individual style with the techniques taught.
Introduction to Teaching Medical Students
Dr. Janis Cutler, 1 week
Provides residents with an introduction to teaching medical students psychiatry while rotating through the inpatient units.
Introduction to Psychotherapy
Drs. Michael Devlin, Carolyn Douglas and Deborah Cabaniss, 1 week
Provides residents with an introduction to the different types of psychotherapy.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Drs. Devlin & Aharonovich, 1 month
This course focuses on cognitive models of depression and eating disorders, cognitive behavioral approaches to decision analysis and structured problem solving, cognitive restructuring and relapse prevention. Patients are interviewed live by the instructor and /or resident in order to demonstrate the utility of particular cognitive behavioral techniques using examples in the patient’s recent experience. Each resident participates at least once.
The SCID (Structured Clinical Instrument for Diagnosis) Interview
Dr. Michael First, 1 week
This class teaches residents how to conduct a structured interview to diagnose DSM IV Axis I disorders.
Psychological Testing
Dr. Fern Leventhal, 1 month
Aspects of assessment of intelligence and cognitive functioning are discussed with attention paid to profiles of neuropsychological functioning in various psychiatric disorders.
Supportive Therapy
Dr. Carolyn Douglas, 2 monthsThis course begins with a discussion of ego function assessment and its application in determining a particular patient's suitability for insight-oriented versus supportive psychotherapy. Techniques and strategies in supportive work are reviewed in detail and contrasted with more purely exploratory approaches, with extensive use of clinical examples. Speculations are offered concerning how patients change in supportive treatment. Didactic lectures are supplemented by readings from the literature and residents are encouraged to contribute examples from their own work with patients.
Behavioral Therapy
Dr. Gordon Ball, 2 weeks This is a critical overview of behavior therapy linking current research advances to specific clinical strategies. Residents learn how to do a behavioral assessment and devise a treatment plan. Some of the specific techniques taught are relaxation methods, desensitization, and habit control.
Psychopharmacology
Drs. Sanjay Mathew and Wilfred Raby, 2 months This is an introductory course designed to teach residents the practical basis of psychopharmacology. Each class of psychotropic agent is discussed with particular emphasis on choice of drugs, dosages and side effect management. The second part provides a review of psychotropics and pharmacokinetics.
The Brain: A Neuroscience Review
Dr. Ramin Parsey, 1 month
This course addresses current research on brain circuits underlying higher cognitive functions, including emotions, reward mechanisms, executive functions, and how, when dysregulated, they can lead to mood, anxiety, psychotic and addictive disorders.
Evidence Based Clinical Practice
Dr. Joanna Steinglass, 2 months
In this series of seminars residents learn to critically review the literature and develop skills in practice-based learning.
Cross Cultural Psychiatry and Cultural Formulation
Drs. Roberto Lewis Fernandez, Maria Oquendo, and Lourdes Dominguez, 2 months
This is an introduction to cross cultural psychiatry. Topics covered include impact of language on evaluation and treatment, culture-specific syndromes, folk belief systems, and other issues that reflect the impact of culture on one's identity and on psychiatric illness. During the course, each resident will write up a cultural formulation on one of their patients which will be discussed in class.
Introduction to the ER and Consultation Liaison
Drs. Carlos Almeida and Phil Muskin, 1 week
This is an overview of general psychiatric emergencies such as the suicidal, the violent, and the acutely psychotic patient and management of such in the emergency room and consultation liaison settings.
History of Psychiatry and the DSM
Dr. Robert Spitzer, 1 week
This is a review of the history of psychiatry and diagnostic classification.
Family Therapy
Dr. Peter Steinglass, 1 month
This is an introduction to family therapy models with extensive use of clinical illustration. The focus is on supportive work with families having a severely ill member.
Clinical Psychodynamics I
Drs. Anna Schwartz and Deborah Cabaniss, 5 months
The course introduces the fundamental principles of psychodynamics -- an explanatory model of the mind based on unconscious conflict and defense. The psychodynamic approach to normal human behavior as well as psychopathology and treatment is discussed. The major psychoanalytic models of the mind (and historical contributions to current theory) are described, with an emphasis on their application in the clinical setting.
Long Term Case Presentations
Dr. Deborah Cabaniss, 3 months
Each resident prepares a written formulation of his/her long term psychotherapy case with the aid of detailed instructions and sample write-ups. The resident's formulation is circulated prior to the patient interview which is conducted by Dr. Caligor and is observed and discussed by the class. In the second class, the formulation is carefully reviewed. This course synthesizes the knowledge and skills the resident has acquired thus far in his/her clinical work and courses.
Psychiatric Ethics
Drs. David Strauss and David Lowenthal, 1 week
Psychiatric Ethics is a course focusing on several of the major ethical issues that residents mayface during theirresidencyand will almost certainly confront throughout their careers as psychiatrists. Topics include boundary crossings and violations; ethical issues in research settings; issues surrounding patient confidentiality and autonomy; and conflicts of interest, particularlyrelationships involving Pharma. The course uses actual case examples to illustrate points wherever possible.
Dementia and Cognitive Disorders
Dr. Devanand, 3 weeks
This course surveys normal physiological, pharmacokinetic and psychosocial changes associated with aging and psychiatric disorders of the elderly, with special emphasis on dementia and cognitive disorders.
PGY 3 Year
The Neurobiological Basis of Psychopharmacology
Drs. Jay Gingrich and Greg Sullivan, 3 months
This course provides an integrated description of the current knowledge of pathophysiologic mechanisms of psychiatric disorders and the molecular impact on these disorders of pharmacological treatments. Diagnostic issues and pharmacologic algorithms are also addressed.
Women's Health and Psychopharmacology
Drs. Cristina Brusco and Catherine Birndorf, 2 weeks
This course focuses on the unique issues of psychopharmacology and women, particularly medication management of psychiatric illnesses during pregnancy and lactation, menopause and perimenstrual symptoms.
Child Psychopathology
Dr. Chrzanowski, 2 months
This is an introduction to the major emotional, behavioral, and developmental disturbances of childhood and adolescence, including mood and anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorder and conduct disorder.
Traumatic Stress
Drs. Yuval Neria and Paula Panzer, 1 month
The assessment and treatment of patients who have sustained physical/ sexual abuse, the witnessing of violence, and other traumatic events is discussed. The course covers epidemiology, neurobiology, differential diagnosis, treatment techniques, and clinical case examples.
Chemical Dependency
Dr. Frances Levin, 6 weeks
The common features of chemical dependency are described including the development of chemical dependency, its diagnosis and treatment. Specific issues for the treatment of alcohol, cocaine, opiate and other drug abuse and dependence are discussed, as well as the neurological underpinnings of addiction in brain reward mechanisms.
Sexual Development and Pathology
Drs. Jennifer Downey and Richard Friedman, 9 weeks
This course presents selected topics in human sexuality -- sexuality during the life cycle, the development of gender identity and sexual orientation, sex and the family including incest, pornography and paraphilias, and sexuality in older years and in the presence of physical illness. The approach is to discuss first the pathology as it presents to the psychiatrist and then to discuss current scholarship as it pertains to etiology and treatment.
Clinical Psychodynamics II
Course Director Deborah Cabaniss, Instructors – Sabrina Cherry, Ruth Graver, Jeffrey Halpern, Justin Richardson, and Ruth Graver, 10 months. Clinical Psychodynamics II is about psychoanalytic psychotherapy. This year-long, weekly course is divided into 4 parts based on the following questions: Part I - What it is, how do we think it works, and who is it for? Part II – How do we do it? (technique)
Part III – How did our patients come to be the way they are? (case formulation) Part IV – How do we write about our work? Classes are generally based on clinical material. Students participate actively in class and complete written work during each section, which helps them to actively integrate concepts. LTT supervision during this year is coordinated with class work to create a “course and lab” synergy. By the end of the year, students write and share a complete write-up of a long-term case, including history, diagnostic assessment, treatment summary, and psychodynamic case formulation.
Adult Development
Dr. Kaia Heimark, 1 month
Stages of adult development; related milestones, losses, conflicts; and gender differences are discussed and illustrated with case material.
Sociology and Dynamics of Adult Intimacy
Dr. Elizabeth Haase, 3 weeks
This course provides an overview of dating, intimacy, adult relationship patterns and models of couple interaction from a variety of theoretical perspectives: ethnologic, sociologic, biologic and psychodynamic. It supplements the adult lifecycle and human sexuality courses and serves as a bridge to couples work.
Human Sexuality
Drs. Anke Ehrhardt and Theresa Exner, 5 weeks
The Human Sexuality course focuses on common female and male sexual dysfunctions and up-to-date treatment modalities for these disorders. It takes an interdisciplinary approach that includes guest lecturers with different perspectives on therapy, i.e., behavioral, psychodynamic, and group therapy. Topics include current areas of particular interest, such as rape, AIDS, and bisexuality.
Evaluation and Treatment Selection
Drs. John Sahs, Joan Storey and Cathy Friedman, 1 month
This course provides an overview of the outpatient evaluation process and addresses issues related to how to decide which treatments are appropriate and feasible in particular clinical situations.
Combined Psychotherapy and Psychopharmacology and Split Treatment
Dr. Aneil Shirke, 6 weeks
This course presents a clinically-near approach to the various ways of combining psychopharmacology and psychotherapy. Clinical material from the experience of the lecturers and residents are used to illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of different models for treatments that combine medications and therapy. The course also addresses issues related to psychopharm management with patients who are being treated in therapy with other mental health providers.
Family Therapy
Stephen Rosenheck, MSW, 7 weeks
This course continues from the course in the PGY 2 year, focusing on theoretical aspects of outpatient treatment of families, including families that present for treatment with an ill member, including a child, and families that seek treatment for conflict or other familial process.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Dr. Michael Devlin, 11 weeks
This course provides a foundation in theoretical principles and clinical skills of cognitive behavioral therapy. Models to treat a variety of Axis I disorders including depression, panic disorder, eating disorders are demonstrated The course is supplemented with individual supervision in CBT.
Interpersonal Therapy
Drs. Myrna Weissman, Peter Shapiro and John Markowitz, 7 weeks
This course reviews time-limited psychotherapy and focuses on Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), a treatment for major depression and other psychiatric disorders. Residents present clinical material in order to discuss the techniques of IPT.
Group Therapy
Dr. Milton Wainberg, 1 month
An overview of group therapy is presented with an emphasis on clinical issues. The initial focus is on evaluation and diagnosis of patients for whom group therapy is indicated. Through lectures and role-playing exercises, residents learn about the role of the group leader and group dynamics.
Couples Therapy
Dr. Henry Spitz, 3 weeks
This course is an introduction to the evaluation and psychotherapeutic treatment of the dyadic couple presenting in the outpatient setting. Advanced couples therapy training is also available as an elective.
Case Conference
Drs. Lyle Rosnick, Pellegrino Sarti, Holly Schneier and Tom Smith, 14 weeks
Clinical cases are presented for discussion with a special focus on the treatment of psychiatric emergencies, psychosis and borderline personality disorder.
Psychopharmacology Case Conference
Drs. Mary Sciutto and John Sahs, 5 sessions
Clinical cases are presented for discussion with a special focus on psychopharmacologic management.
ER Case Conference
Drs. Holly Schneier and Ellen Stevenson, 6 sessions
Clinical cases are presented for discussion with a special focus on psychopharmacologic and psychosocial management in the hospital setting.
Outpatient Psychopharmacology I & II
Drs. Michael Liebowitz and Wilfred Raby, 13 weeks
These courses meet for four months at the end of the PGY 3 year and provide a discussion of pharmacologic treatment options for complex cases.
Drug-Drug Interactions
Dr. Lewis Opler, 2 weeks
This course provides a review of psychotropic medications and pharmacokinetics.
Career Options
Dr. Claire Holderness, 11 weeks
Within psychiatry there are many types of careers, offering quite different work styles and rewards. This course invites senior and junior faculty members who are pursuing various careers to discuss them openly with the residents. The emotional aspects of leaving training and entering practice are also discussed, as well as procedural matters such as writing CV's, interviewing and negotiating salary.
Managed Care
Dr. David Kahn, 2 weeks
This is an introduction to managed care and covers the medical economics leading to managed care, terminology and adaptations.
Emergency Psychiatry
Drs. Carlos Almeida and Brett Blatter, 10 sessions
This course teaches the basics of the theory, assessment, management, and brief treatment of common psychiatric emergencies. It describes crisis intervention, systems theory, medical model, and use of modified psychoanalytic techniques as the basic theoretical approaches to psychiatric emergencies. The course focuses on the specific applications of these approaches to patients who are in crisis, are suicidal or homicidal, or who have delirium, dementia, or an acute substance abuse problem.
Introduction to Computers
Dr. Melissa Arbuckle, 3 weeks
Residents learn how and where to access on-line information including how to conduct a literature research, determine drug interactions, and access laboratory results.
Clinical Ethics
Drs. David Lowenthal and David Strauss, one week
This course is an introduction to the course (continued during the PGY4 year) and addresses some of the most common ethical problems psychiatrists and residents face in a variety of different clinical circumstances.
Evidence Based Medicine for Psychotherapeutics
Dr. Joanna Steinglass, 8 weeks
Discusses the scientific evidence behind many of the common psychopharm and psychotherapy treatments for a variety of psychiatric disorders.
Medical Student Teaching
Dr. Janis Cutler, one week
This course introduces residents to their role as educators to medical students in the emergency psychiatry setting.
Mock Board Introduction
Drs.Carlos Almeida and Brett Blatter, 1 week
Residents are introduced the board style interview sessions that are conducted twice during their year-long rotation in the emergency room.
Legal Issues in Psychiatry
Dr. Paul Applebaum, 4 weeks
This course deals with the critical legal issues that affect the treatment of psychiatric patients, including the insanity defense, involuntary hospitalization, informed consent, confidentiality, malpractice and the dangerous patient. It is continued for an additional 5 weeks in the PGY 4 year.
PGY 4 Year
Neuropsychiatry
Drs. Jon Levenson and Gerry Hurowitz, nine weeks
This course reviews the behavioral, emotional and cognitive difficulties of patients with major neurologic disorders including traumatic brain injury, seizure disorder, movement disorders, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, HIV and Alzheimer's disease. Assessment and treatment of these disorders are discussed. Faculty include members of both the psychiatry and neurology departments.
Clinical Neuropsychiatry
Drs. Brian Fallon and Scott Schoebel, 3 weeks
Advances in brain imaging technology has led to new insight into the complex messaging and neurocircuitry of the brain. This course reviews the various imaging modalities currently available and how they contribute to our understanding of mental illness effects on the brain.
Telepsychiatry
Dr. Steven Hyler, 2 weeks
This seminar is an introduction to the new field of telepsychiatry. As part of the course each resident will have the opportunity to participate in a supervised telepsychiatry consultation for a patient at a rural mental health clinic, state prison, or an upstate OMH in-patient facility.
Erotic Transference and Psychodynamic Process
Dr. Gloria Stern, 10 weeks
This course deals with how sexual identity issues influence the development of erotic and eroticized transferences. Implications for the countertransference are discussed. Using case material, psychoanalytic process and technique are discussed and correlated with clinical theory. Popular topics in psychodynamic process are also discussed and include: modifications of technique for different character types, treatment stalemates, advanced use of dreams, special issues of private practice, evaluation of treatment results, seeing family members and criteria for termination.
Demonstration of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Dr. Lyle Rosnick, 15 weeks
A video-taped long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy is presented and discussed by the senior faculty member who conducted the treatment.
Psychotherapy of Psychosis
Dr. Eric Marcus, 4 weeks
The textbook Psychosis and Near Psychosis is used to describe mental structure and treatment of psychotic and near psychotic disorders.
Brief Dynamic Therapy
Dr. Alan Barasch, 9 weeks
This course and weekly seminar focus on how the basic concepts and techniques of analytic psychotherapy are flexibly adapted in brief therapy. This includes selection criteria, focusing the treatment, handling of material from patients' current and past object relationships, transference, and use of the time limit and terminations. Major historical contributions to current brief dynamic theory are discussed. Residents in the year long seminar present and discuss clinical material from brief dynamic psychotherapy cases.
Brief Dynamic Therapy Seminar
Dr. Alan Barasch, 7 months
This course builds upon the brief dynamic Therapy course. Residents participating present and discuss clinical material from brief dynamic psychotherapy cases.
Termination
Dr. Robert Glick, 4 weeks
Issues that arise in planned and forced termination, referral to other clinicians and continuation with patients in private practice are discussed.
Research in Psychiatry
Dr. Abby Fyer, 4 weeks
This course addresses a variety of types of research from double-blind placebo-controlled studies to case reports. Residents learn about the usefulness and limitations of each and the questions that can be assessed.
Supervising and Teaching Medical Students
Drs. Lisa Mellman, Joanna Steinglass and Janis Cutler, 5 sessions
In this interactive course, residents learn the important elements in conducting supervision of psychotherapy, including establishing an alliance, listening to session material and determining how and when to intervene. They also learn how to plan and conduct a successful lecture.
Ethics and Psychiatry
Drs. David Lowenthal and David Strauss, 7 weeks
This course addresses current controversies in psychiatric ethics, including sexual misconduct with patients and colleagues, research ethics, and ethical problems in a variety of different clinical circumstances.
Office Practice
Dr. Claire Holderness, 4 weeks
Leaving the residency and beginning a private practice is difficult for all residents. This course provides practical information on starting one's practice. Topics include: finding an office, setting a fee, record keeping, as well as treatment issues that relate specifically to private practice and managed care settings.
Legal Issues in Psychiatry
Dr. Paul Applebaum, 5 weeks
This course deals with the critical legal issues that affect the treatment of psychiatric patients, including the insanity defense, involuntary hospitalization, informed consent, confidentiality, malpractice and the dangerous patient.
Oral Boards Exam
Dr. Steven Hyler, 4 weeks
This seminar teaches residents what to expect in the oral board examination and how to prepare. Videos of patient interviews are used to teach residents the board format.
Independent Projects
Drs. Melissa Arbuckle and Michelle Merrill, 7 weeks
In this seminar each PGY 4 resident makes a brief presentation on a topic of his or her current interest, often a research project, which is then discussed.
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Psychosomatic Medicine
Dr. Philip Muskin, 20 – 22 sessions
This course presents “core curriculum” in the field of consultation-liaison psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine. Topics include: delirium; dementia; intoxication and withdrawal syndromes seen in the medical setting; psychiatric disorders in various medical conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, liver disease, AIDS, pregnancy, and cancer; somatoform and factitious disorders; techniques of psychotherapy with the medically ill; hypnosis; management of substance abuse and dependence in the medical setting; legal and ethical issues; pain management; palliative and end-of-life care issues.
The Biology of Mental Functioning
Dr. Ramin Parsey, 6 weeks
This course covers the neurobiological substrates of emotional processing in non-human and human primates. We will discuss parts of the brain associated with the generation and regulation of emotion and end with a discussion of the neurobiology of psychotherapy as it
relates to emotions.
For All Residents
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Dr. Jeffrey Young, weekly for two weeks every other year
This half day seminar, provided every other year for all residents, is an intensive immersion in the theory and technique of cognitive behavioral therapy. Further treatment opportunities in the PGY 2 and 4 years complement this introduction.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
Dr. Barbara Stanley and Beth Brodsky, weekly for two weeks every other year
This half day seminar, provided every other year for all residents, provides clinical therapeutic and management techniques for treating the difficult-to-manage patient and reducing self injurious behaviors.
Faculty Colloquia
Select Faculty, 3 sessions
This unique seminar allows each resident class a chance to invite and meet individually with leaders in the field of psychiatry. This series is designed to facilitate interaction and dialogue between residents and faculty, and to allow residents an opportunity to learn more about a specific faculty member's research, clinical experience, and significant events that influenced their career path.
Psychiatry Departmental Grand Rounds
Rotates among visiting and attending faculty from the Department of Psychiatry, weekly for 11 months
Lectures for the faculty and house staff on the most recent advances and research in Psychiatry followed by a discussion
