Psychiatry

fakultatywne

The goal of this course is to present basic concepts and problems of modern psychiatry , introducing principles of epidemiology, etiology, manifestation, course, prognosis and treatment of major psychiatric

disorders and thus to prepare the students to recognize and differentiate main psychiatric conditions. Emphasis will be put on clinical approach and practical skills. There will be presented psychiatric symptoms which are crucial to make a proper differential diagnosis. There will be discussed what is a role of mental health specialist, how to maintain good therapeutic contact with patients, thus supporting psychiatric treatment as members of mental health team.

The course will introduce the students into psychiatry as a subdivision of modern medicine, a specialty dealing with diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders. There will be discussed major groups of psychiatric disorders, namely anxiety disorders, affective disorders, eating disorders, sleep disorders, sexual disorders, schizophrenia and related psychoses, disorders due to substance misuse, personality disorders, impulse-control disorders will be discussed in terms of epidemiology, etiological theories and hypotheses, clinical manifestations and categories, differential diagnosis including symptoms overlapping, differentiation with somatic conditions, course, prognosis and

management, specific features in different age groups (children and adolescents, elderly patients).

In each class students will become familiar with most important

issues concerning a specific topic. Discussion on presented clinical examples will help incorporate obtained knowledge into understanding the nature of patients’ problems . Students will learn the psychiatric evaluation and to become more confident in decision-making (developing treatment plans, referring patients to specialist care, etc.).

A lecture at the end of the course will be dedicated to additional

topics (like transcultural psychiatry, evolutionary perspective in

psychiatry, methods of treatment, etc), to an in-depth approach to previously discussed problems or to a trial test – depending on the students’ choice.

Students will be asked to prepare for each class by reading

specified chapters from the literature (assigned from class to class) and their active participation (questions, doubts). The discussion will be encouraged. Three times during the course students will be asked to prepare a written case study.

By the end of the course students should:

- demonstrate working knowledge of the major concepts of psychiatric disorders.

- be able to critically evaluate clinical data in terms of possible

diagnosis and to develop treatment plans including the role of

psychological methods of assessment and treatment.

- be able to recognize specific risk factors and the specificity of contact with various groups of patients.

- develop critical thinking about the burden and scope of mental problems in the modern society