The Learn Psych Podcast returns from its prolonged holiday hiatus with a great new episode! Join us today as we discuss Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), a cluster B disorder which many clinicians find difficult to treat. We are joined by Dr. Heather Schultz who will give us tips and advice to turn this sometimes challenging population into a …

Forensic Psychiatry: In this month’s episode, we continue exploring psychiatry fellowships by talking about forensic psychiatry. Forensics is a large field so today’s episode tries to focus in on the criminal aspect of the subspecialty. Dr. Anacker discusses what got her interested in forensics and then we talk about forensic evaluations, the insan…

This month’s episode looks at what happens when psychiatry patients enter the golden years. That’s right, we explore the subspecialty of geriatric psychiatry. We talk with a geriatric psychiatrist about why she chose the field, what keeps it fun and interesting, as well as different challenges the elder patient brings to the visit. The episode is f…

Today, we go global! Dr. Nakita Natala makes her first podcast appearance to discuss one of her passions - global mental health. It is an interesting talk looking at the big picture of global mental health and then diving into Dr. Natala’s own experiences in the field. There are some interesting stories and this episode provides some cool insights …

There is a hidden danger on college campuses across the country. Today, we examine this danger of combining stimulants and alcohol. We first speak with Julie Buckner, who started a foundation in her son's honor on his topic, after his life was tragically cut short. Then, we interview Dr. Allison Lin, an addiction psychiatrist at the University of M…

In this episode, we create a role play scenario of a patient who presents on a very complicated psychotropic medication regimen seeking yet more controlled substances. Dr. Jouney and Dr. Wang will role play the scenario, and then we have a group discussion of the approach to take when you encounter similar situations. Lots of valuable clinical pear…

Episode 019: Handling Drug Seeking Behaviors Part 1 In this episode, we create a role play scenario of a challenging patient who presents seeking benzodiazepines. Dr. Jouney and Dr. Wang will role play the scenario, and then we have a group discussion of the approach to take when you encounter difficult patients who are seeking controlled substance…

Psychiatry is more than just medicine...there is that whole talking part too! Today, we welcome Dr. Ricks Warren a psychologist at the University of Michigan to talk about cognitive distortions and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). We delve into both topics to discuss what they are, how they affect a person’s mood, and how CBT works as a treatmen…

Learn Psych Podcast Episode 17 - ECT with Dr. Dan Maixner Topics covered: What is ECT? Electricity to the brain - where did this idea come from? Does ECT work? What conditions can ECT treat? What workup do you need to do prior to ECT? What are ECT side effects? How does informed consent work for ECT? Other link of interest: TED talk on ECT --------…

Physician and trainee mental health is a popular topic being researched today. According to a paper published by Shanafelt and Noseworthy of the Mayo Clinic in 2016, over 50% of physicians are experiencing symptoms of burnout! They also describe how this issue can influence quality of care, patient safety, physician turnover, physician turnover and…

Episode 15: Dr. Tom Fluent joins us today to talk about childhood ADHD. We use Dr. Fluent's own personal story with ADHD to talk about the disorder, treatment, and how it effects a family as a whole. It should be an entertaining, open, and honest discussion of a disorder that can be misunderstood and frustrating for many clinicians. This show is in…

Return of the Pod - Announcements! We have a second host - please welcome Dr. Matt Hughes! Our next full episode (and also Matt’s debut) will come out on Wednesday, March 1, 2017, with the topic of diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in kids. Matt also has an upcoming episode on Physician Mental Health, coming out in April. Our production schedule will…

Announcements: The every-other-week production schedule is sadly unsustainable for me. I am unable to keep up with it myself and I will need to take a break. I am looking for help with developing content. If you are interested, message me here: http://www.learnpsychpodcast.com/contact-us/ Besides trying to save my time, I also will need to figure o…

Episode 12: Dr. Kate Baker of the University of Michigan joins us again for an episode on the treatment of phobias, building upon the last episode on the diagnosis of phobias. This episode will cover topics like: - What is the best treatment for different types of phobias (specific phobia, agoraphobia, social phobia)? - What is exposure therapy? Ho…

Today's show is about how to diagnose a phobia, with Dr. Kate Baker of the University of Michigan. In two weeks, we will be back with a second episode on treatment of phobias. This episode may be most helpful for pre-clinical and clinical students, as well as residents early in their training. In today's episode we cover: - Specific phobias (like f…

Today's episode is about immature defense mechanisms. We are back again with Dr. Michael Casher from the University of Michigan. Immature Defense Mechanisms covered in this episode: Acting out Denial Regression Projection Pasive aggression Dissociation Splitting Somatization Converstion Identification with aggressor Others: Negation This episode is…

Episode 009 Theory of Mind, Mature & Neurotic Defense Mechanisms with Dr. Michael Casher Today's show explores Freud's "Theory of Mind" the id, ego, super-ego, the conscious, pre-conscious, and unconscious And we tie in what the theory of mind has to do with defense mechanisms. In today's episode, we cover mature and neurotic defense mechanisms. Ma…

The biopsychosocial formulation is a way of writing an assessment of a patient in psychiatry. As the name implies, it combines biological, psychological, and social information to develop a full picture of the presentation. Although it was actually created to be used in a wide range of medical fields, it is most often found in psychiatry. After dis…

Episode 7 - Assessment of Decision Making Capacity Today’s show is about how to resolve competing interests when a patient wants to do one thing, but the medical team thinks something else would be better. For example, what happens when you have a patient who has a bad infection and needs a surgery to survive, but the patient is refusing the surger…

Episodes 6 with Dr. Charles Surber. On today’s episode, we discuss delirium, a clinical syndrome that many medical students will encounter, often while not on their psychiatry rotation. We define delirium, and then discuss the causes, risk factors, treatment, and prevention of delirium.

Episode #5 with Dr. Ed Deneke. We explore a case about a patient who believes he is being poisoned. We discuss the differential diagnosis and also explore the question how a physician can best treat a patient who doesn’t believe he has problem. Other topics covered in this episode include safety concerns, collateral information, and alliance buildi…

Mental status exam, part 2, with Dr. Michael Casher. Topics discussed in this episode include: Thought content - phobias, delusions Perceptions - hallucinations and what sorts of conditions hallucinations can be seen in Cognition Insight Judgment Dr. Casher will offer tips for interviewing patients to elicit these various parts of the mental status…

Episode #3, released on June 8, 2016 and recorded in Spring 2016. Today’s topic is the mental status exam, and I will be interviewing Dr. Michael Casher, one of the attending psychiatrists at the University of Michigan. We will cover: -What is the mental status exam? Why do we have the mental status exam in psychiatry. -We will play a sketch from a…

Interview with Dr. Laura Hirshbein, MD, PhD, of the University of Michigan. Podcast covers topics: - What is psychiatry? How does it compare to psychology or neurology? - What is a psychiatric illness, and how is a psychiatric illness diagnosed? - What is the DSM? How did we get to the current DSM? - How have psychiatric illnesses been treated over…

An introduction to the Learn Psych Podcast and its host. Podcast will cover topics in psychiatry, targeted primarily at medical students, residents, and other trainees.