Overview

(A) GOAL

The aim of teaching the undergraduate student in psychiatry is to impart such knowledge and skills that may enable him to diagnose and treat common psychiatric disorders, handle psychiatric emergencies and to refer complications/unusual manifestations of common disorders and rare psychiatric disorders to the specialist.

(B) OBJECTIVES

(i) KNOWLEDGE

At the end of the course the student should be able to:

• comprehend nature and development of different aspects of normal human behavior like learning, memory, motivation, personality and intelligence;
• recognize differences between normal and abnormal behavior;
• classify psychiatric disorders;
• recognize clinical manifestations of the following common syndromes and plan their appropriate management of organic psychosis, functional psychosis, schizophrenia, affective disorders, neurotic disorders, personality disorders, psycho-physiological disorders, drug and alcohol dependence, psychiatric disorders of childhood and adolescence;
• describe rational use of different modes of therapy in psychiatric disorders.

(ii) SKILLS

At the end of the course, the student should be able to:

• interview the patient and understand different methods of communications in patient-doctor relationship;
• elicit detailed psychiatric case history and conduct clinical examination for assessment of mental status;
• define, elicit and interpret psycho-pathological symptoms and signs.
• diagnose and manage common psychiatric disorders;
• identify and manage psychological reactions and psychiatric disorders in medical and surgical patients in clinical practice and in community setting

(iii) INTEGRATION

Training in Psychiatry should prepare the students to deliver preventive, promotive, curative and re-habilitative services for the care of patients both in the family and community and to refer advance cases to a specialized Psychiatry/Mental Hospital. Training should be integrated with the departments of Medicine, Neuro Anatomy, Behavioral Sciences and Forensic medicine.