Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences: An Introduction for Clinical Learners

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences: An Introduction for Clinical Learners equips medical students and other clinical learners with the foundational knowledge and skillsets they need to understand and effectively treat patients with psychiatric symptoms and disorders within various aspects of medicine.

Unit I provides learners with a global overview of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Students are introduced to the critical tools of psychiatry assessments and mental status examinations. In Unit II, students are given the framework to understand what normal human development is or is considered to be. With this information, they will recognize clinical deviations from the norm. Unit III covers psychiatry disorders outlined by the DSM-V and corresponding ICD-11 diagnostic criteria. In each chapter, a case vignette is discussed, and clinical presentations, diagnosis, and treatment are covered. With this, students will be better equipped to recognize mental health problems that need to be addressed, resulting in more positive patient outcomes, regardless of their ultimate specialty of choice. Unit IV discusses the different treatment modalities used in psychiatry. The final unit focuses on special topics in psychiatry, including suicide, psychiatric emergencies, psychosomatic medicine, social determinants of health, pediatric and geriatric mental health, diversity and cultural psychiatry, professionalism, and more. An active learning component is available in a separate publication for interested learners to consolidate concepts and skills.

Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences: An Introduction for Clinical Learners is an ideal resource for courses and programs in medicine and allied health fields.

Edore Onigu-Otite, M.D. is an associate professor and the associate course director for the Foundations in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences course for medical students at Baylor College of Medicine.

Sindhu A. Idicula, M.D. is an associate professor, the associate training program director for general psychiatry, and the course director for the Foundations in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences course at Baylor College of Medicine.

Kammarauche Asuzu, M.D., M.H.S., is an instructor of clinical child psychiatry in the Child Study Center in the Yale School of Medicine.

Asim Shah, M.D. is a professor and the executive vice chair of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine.