Residency Training Program
in Psychiatry

Special Programs

The Psychotherapy Training Program

Becoming a skilled psychotherapist is a central and particularly challenging task of psychiatric training. Accordingly, the Program places a strong emphasis on training in psychotherapy. It encourages interested residents to expand on the core experience and tailors their training to suit individual needs and talents.

Beginning in PGY-II the resident attends didactic seminars which begin to address the basic principles of interviewing and psychodynamic psychotherapy. A seminar on psychiatric interviewing focuses on the techniques of eliciting clinical information needed to develop a diagnostic assessment, formulation and treatment plan. There is a year long Introduction to Psychotherapy Seminar using a case-based and interactive format. The resident also begins participation in the Long Term Psychotherapy Program.

In PGY-III residents participate in individual psychotherapy seminars which cover psychotherapeutic techniques with patients with different disorders. In addition, a variety of elective seminars are available including Basic Clinical Neurology, Clinical Care and Research in Bipolar Disorder, Long Term Psychotherapy, Continuous Care Conference, Critical Reading of the Literature, Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, Disorders of the Self, Effective Psychotherapy, Electroconvulsive Therapy-Theory and Practice, Introduction to Psychoanalytic Theory, Clinical Hypnosis, Primary Care Medicine, Women's Health and Video in Psychotherapy. Residents can also pursue advanced knowledge about leadership and group and organizational dynamics by electing a seminar entitled, "Understanding Organizations: Diagnosis and Consultation".

Research Training

Training in research and scholarship is integral to the education of the psychiatrist. All residents must develop the ability to evaluate critically and skeptically clinical research findings in the literature, in order to assess the implications of such findings in clinical work. Seminars, practicums and tutorials in the logical foundations and methodology of clinical research are available to residents in both the Core and Concentration Programs.

A number of options exist at Yale for more concentrated research experience through post-doctoral research training fellowships. Presently, research fellowships are available in the areas of neuroscience research, clinical research, mental health service research and psychiatric epidemiology.

The Department offers an annual award, the Seymour L. Lustman Research Award, to recognize residents who have achieved distinction in research and scholarship performed during their Residency. First and second place winners of the award present their papers at a Departmental Grand Rounds in the spring of each academic year.

Eligibility and Admission

Applicants with a strong interest in an academic career in neuroscience research in psychiatry are encouraged to apply for this program. Prior experience in basic or clinical research is required. A Ph.D. degree is preferred for those individuals interested in basic neuroscience research. Interested applicants should file the standard Yale Psychiatry Residency application form and indicate their interest in Neuroscience Research Training in Psychiatry in a separate letter which describes the applicant's research interests and experience.

Advanced Clinical Training

The Department offers many opportunities for advanced clinical training beyond the basic residency. They include Chief Residency positions at the various facilities providing combinations of increasing independent clinical, teaching and administrative responsibilities. ACGME-accredited Advanced Residencies are available in Forensic, Geriatric and Addiction Psychiatry. Many clinical fellowships are also available, including fellowships in anxiety disorders, adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, partial hospitalization, college psychiatry, post traumatic stress disorder, psychotic disorders, psychopharmacology and consultation psychiatry.

The Long Term Psychotherapy Program

The Long-Term Psychotherapy Program is designed to ensure that all residents have the opportunity to do intensive psychotherapeutic work with a small number of selected patients. The experience enables each resident to gain an appreciation of how careful, studied and active listening and talking can influence patient behavior over time. The resident gains increased awareness of the emotional and behavioral vicissitudes engendered in the patient and therapist as a result of an intimate, extended psychotherapeutic experience. Residents also have the opportunity to develop an appreciation of the changing nature of psychological states and individual psychopathology over times.

In order to achieve these goals, residents are assigned two long-term patients and a long-term supervisor. The resident continues with the same supervisor and patients throughout the Residency regardless of institutional assignment. This intensive, careful work with patients and a supervisor provides a unique and critically important experience in the appreciation and understanding of psychological change.

Neuroscience Research Training Program

In recognition of the increasingly important role of neuroscience in psychiatry and the increasing need for residents to have practical, hands-on research time during their residency years, the Department of Psychiatry has initiated a specialized training program within the general residency dedicated to nurturing future clinical and basic neuropsychiatric researchers.

The Neuroscience Research Training Program (NRTP), is based on the premise that integrated clinical and research training experiences act synergistically to enhance residents' psychiatric education, highlighting current knowledge and its limits, and charting the field's future directions. Specifically, the NRTP guarantees a minimum of 4 months of research-dedicated inpatient training in the PG-II year, an outpatient PG-III year in research-related specialty clinics, and an entire PG-IV year for elective clinical and or basic research. The Program accepts as many as 3 candidates per year. Interested applicants apply through the regular residency match and are then given a letter by the Program Director confirming their place in the NRTP.

The NRTP is distinguished by two major strengths. One is the multidisciplinary nature of Departmental neuroscience research. Within the department are active research programs in molecular biology, biochemistry, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, and behavioral pharmacology. This research represents a series of highly intergrated studies into the biological basis of mental disorders. A second major strength is the integration of basic and clinical neuroscience research. Indeed, the ability of pre-clinical and clinical investigators to interact in synergistic fashion has been a hallmark of research within the Yale Neurobiological Research Program for many years. The insights and understanding of mechanisms at the pre-clinical level have served as a basis for the design and execution of clinical studies. Subsequently, the results of clinical studies have informed guided further exploration of pre-clinical mechanisms.

The Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis

The Department of Psychiatry maintains a close affiliation with the Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis (WNEIP), which is located in New Haven. Many members of the WNEIP are also faculty members in the Department and intimately involved in all levels of resident teaching and supervision of residents. They also act as consultants and mentors for residents interested in psychoanalytic training and/or personal psychoanalysis. The WNEIP offers a low-fee psychoanalytic clinic which is available to residents. The Department and the WNEIP jointly sponsor Grand Rounds presentations and the WNEIP sponsors psychoanalytically-oriented Continuing Medical Education activities through courses, seminars and special symposia. In addition, the WNEIP has an extensive psychoanalyic library available to residents.

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