A neural systems-based neurobiology and neuropsychiatry course: integrating biology, psychodynamics, and psychology in the psychiatric curriculum

Abstract

Objective: Psychotherapy and biological psychiatry remain divided in psychiatry residency curricula. Behavioral neurobiology and neuropsychiatry provide a systems-level framework that allows teachers to integrate biology, psychodynamics, and psychology.

Method: The authors detail the underlying assumptions and outline of a neural systems-based neuroscience course they teach at the National Capital Consortium Psychiatry Residency Program. They review course assessment reports and classroom observations.

Results: Self-report measures and teacher observations are encouraging. By the end of the course, residents are able to discuss both neurobiological and psychodynamic/psychological concepts of distributed biological neural networks. They verbalize an understanding that psychology is biology, that any distinction is artificial, and that both are valuable.

Conclusions: A neuroscience curriculum founded on the underlying principles of behavioral neurobiology and neuropsychiatry is inherently anti-reductionistic and facilitates the acquisition of detailed information as well as critical thinking and cross-disciplinary correlations with psychological theories and psychotherapy.