THIRD POSTGRADUATE YEAR

12 Months - All Outpatient

The third postgraduate year focuses on skills in treating outpatients. Residents spend one day per week at a city/county outpatient clinic, one day per week at the VA OPC. An additional half day is spent at a student mental health clinic or, for those who wish to pursue a career in community psychiatry, in a Day Treatment Center for the homeless.  Residents follow selected patients and evaluate new clinic applicants, evaluating them from the psychodynamic, biological, and psychosocial perspectives in specialized clinics. Experiences in exploratory, group, family, cognitive, interpersonal, behavioral, brief dynamic and couples therapy as well as psychopharmacologic and supportive management are all provided. Residents are expected to conduct seven hours of outpatient psychotherapy each week with supervision provided by full-time and/or volunteer faculty. The heaviest emphasis is on individual psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and group therapy, but all of the other techniques noted above, as well as hypnosis and biofeedback are also taught and employed. Each resident co-leads an ongoing therapy group for the year. Each site provides individual supervision, a clinical case conference, a journal club, and a didactic survey of topics relevant to the practice of outpatient psychiatry.
The core didactics offered in this year include a course that surveys all major systems of psychotherapy, an advanced neuroscience course, and a continuous case conference. Most classes elect to continue their t-group experience through the PGY-3.