Master of Psychiatry (Online)

The subject focuses on developing an understanding of evidence based aetiology, diagnosis, formulation, assessment, management, and prognosis for the major categories of psychiatric disorder. Students will begin to develop an integrated concept of psychological and scientific theories, so when formulating patients, consideration is given to their genetic risks or vulnerabilities, as well as the psycho-social context within which the presentation occurs.

• This subject will cover skills such as history taking, mental state examination, formulation, risk and cognitive assessment, legal and ethical issues and basic sciences, psychological, social and biological treatments, research methodology and critical appraisal of research;

• The subject will cover the epidemiology, aetiology, assessment, management and important issues of some of the key disorders in psychiatry;

• This subject will aim to align with the proposed new Competency Based Fellowship of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

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The subject focuses on developing an understanding of evidence based aetiology, diagnosis, formulation, assessment, management, and prognosis for the major categories of psychiatric disorder. Students will begin to develop an integrated concept of psychological and scientific theories, so when formulating patients, consideration is given to their genetic risks or vulnerabilities, as well as the psycho-social context within which the presentation occurs.

• This subject will cover skills such as history taking, mental state examination, formulation, risk and cognitive assessment, legal and ethical issues and basic sciences, psychological, social and biological treatments, research methodology and critical appraisal of research.
• The subject will cover the epidemiology, aetiology, assessment, management and important issues of some of the key disorders in psychiatry.
• This subject will aim to align with the proposed new Competency Based Fellowship of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

View detailed information in the Handbook

This subject will provide students with the opportunity to view the evolution of human behaviour through the life cycle from a developmental perspective.

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This unit aims to explore the relationship between physical and psychological health and illness. The key components of this relationship will be explored from both a theoretical and clinical perspective. These concepts include how psychological factors affect physical health, how physical illness can lead to psychological disturbance and the nature of somatisation. Common medical conditions with psychological associations will also be reviewed.

The activities of psychiatrists within general medical settings will be explored. This will include the clinical process of the consultation liaison assesment, the application of neuropsychological testing and the nature of interventions. Issues of communication, treatment adherence and relationship difficulties in medical settings will be addressed.

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This subject is a core subject in Year 3 of the Masters of Psychiatry program. Ten weeks focus directly on the clinical and research aspects of Old Age Psychiatry – psychiatric disorders as they present in the older age group (>65 years). The teaching will promote development of a clinical style that delivers care to this population in a positive, compassionate and patient-centred manner and with an awareness of their needs. The old age component of the unit will address the interaction of ageing and mental health, epidemiological and demographical aspects of ageing in Australia and worldwide, the social construction of ageing, individual experiences of ageing, ageing and mental health of indigenous Australians, physical and psychological consequences of ageing, families and ageing, sexuality and ageing, death and dying, common cognitive and functional disorders in the elderly, physical health, pharmacology and ageing and service provision to the elderly with a mental illness. An additional 2 weeks within this subject will be more practical sessions; in which themes of the Capstone Special Topics in Psychiatry Subject will be introduced. In these sessions, students will build upon their concepts of the vocational aspects of psychiatry as they move towards advanced training.

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This is one of two capstone subject options, taught in the final semester of the Master of Psychiatry course.

This subject is intended to develop critical research skills required to conduct professional research within the field of Psychiatry. Students will formulate a research question with relevance to one of the areas of specialisation covered during their studies in the Master of Psychiatry – preferably an area they have undertaken a selective subject within and can arrange appropriate supervision for. An ethics application may be required from the student.

Students will discuss their chosen research topic with their supervisor, devising a research proposal and outline that will form the basis of their thesis. Students will review relevant literature in light of their chosen area of study and according to established research method(s) in preparation for writing and then submission of their minor thesis at the end of term.

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This is one of two capstone subject options, taught in the final semester of the Master of Psychiatry course. As such, it aims to help students integrate the diverse knowledge and skills acquired in the previous five semesters to prepare them for their transition to professional practice.

Psychiatrists have diverse professional roles apart from their core clinical role. They require up-to-date knowledge and skills in, amongst other areas:

• the evaluation and conduct of research
• mental health services policy, economics and service provision
• administration and team and service leadership
• teaching of medical students, psychiatry trainees and students of other disciplines, including the skills of supervision and mentorship
• psychiatric ethics
• the medicolegal dimensions of psychiatry, including mental health legislation
• community engagement, e.g., advocacy for mental health care; involvement in public education and debate about mental health issues; the mental health needs of diverse social and cultural groups; the public communication of psychiatric knowledge
• working constructively with other disciplines engaged in mental health care
• promotion of the health and well-being of themselves, their colleagues and co-workers

This subject aims to address these needs by building on and revisiting the material of the previous five semesters (and on the students’ developing clinical experience); and by using diverse teaching methods to promote integration of this knowledge, a more sophisticated understanding and greater competence.

The teaching period itself consists of 12-half day attendances, each half day consisting of two sessions. The 24 sessions will address the diverse topics listed above, will do so in a variety of ways and will involve invited experts relevant to each topic. For some sessions, small groups of students will be assigned to prepare and contribute, every student having one opportunity to do so during the semester.

A variety of formats are used, including: debates; expert panels; mock trials; updates of several fields and subspecialties by relevant experts; presentations by leading researchers about their own research career in psychiatry, but also discussing how to get published and how to advance one’s own career; registrars presenting their own experience of research. History, social sciences, literature and film will be employed selectively to help develop perspectives on the achievements as well as the errors and abuses of psychiatry, and the challenges and opportunities facing the profession.

Psychiatric research will be addressed in several ways. For some students, the Master of Psychiatry (342AA) is a prelude to a research higher degree and this subject will facilitate their transition. For all students, staying abreast of research is fundamental to good professional practice, and this subject will address the critical evaluation of research, literature searches and topic reviews.

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Philosophical and ethical issues pervade psychiatric thinking and everyday practice, as well as mental health policy. Key questions concern:

• the nature of mental health and illness, which in turn leads to questions about the nature of mind, brain and their connections (this takes in philosophy of mind and philosophical approaches to descriptive psychopathology)
• the causation, prevention and treatment of mental illness - types of psychological and neurobiological forms of thinking about these; issues raised by the rapid developments in neuroscience, including the emergence of neuroethics
• the ethics of psychiatric work, including confidentiality and involuntary treatment; codes of ethics
• the ethics of psychiatric care – resource allocation, mental health policy
• the ethics of psychiatric relations with business, notably the pharmaceutical industry
• the ethics of international mental health and transcultural psychiatric work in an era of globalisation
• psychiatry and science: is psychiatry a form of science? And, if so, in what ways, is psychiatry like other sciences, in what ways different?

The unit aims to provide an overview of this field, oriented particularly to the needs of psychiatrists- in-training, undertaking the training programme of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), but the content will be relevant and of interest to non-trainee and non-medical participants involved in the mental health sector. The subject title includes the word ‘history’ as, wherever possible, the content will be taught with an historical emphasis, using case studies from the history of psychiatry (as well as from the present) to complement the more philosophical teaching.

A strong theme in the course will be the many implications of neuroscience, including social neuroscience, for psychiatry, including implications for concepts of self and human identity, for psychological enhancement, for surveillance and ‘mind-reading’ and for prediction and management of socially undesired traits. An emerging issue is the potential use of digital media and technologies (the web, apps), employing social neuroscience techniques in psychiatric care, eg, programs that assess facial movement and voice features to diagnose depression. The concept of ‘neurodiversity’ will be discussed as will some attempted integrations of psychological and neurobiological ways of thinking, such as neuropsychoanalysis.

An important topic will be the ethical and effective communication of psychiatric science to patients and to the general community.

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This selective introduces the fascinating interaction between mental health and the criminal justice system. The objective will be to familiarise students with those aspects of forensic mental health which will be of general applicability in psychiatric practice, as the interaction between mental illness and offending is important for everyone working in mental health. The selective will acquaint students with the nature of the relationships between mental disorder and deviant (including criminal) behaviours. It will provide an introduction to current evidence-based approaches to assessing and managing risk of future violence, and will address treatment and in secure hospital and custodial settings. Finally we will look at specific forms of problem behaviour, such as sexual offending, to illustrate the interactions between deviant and potentially damaging behaviours and disorders of the mind.

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This unit is intended to give a brief introduction into the theoretical underpinnings of the main forms of CBT and provide a solid background in the practical applications of CBT in relation to common psychiatric disorders for which CBT is an appropriate treatment.

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The unit will provide an introduction into the area of substance abuse - definitions, classification systems, and epidemiology including incidence, prevalence and risk factors. It will cover the major substances of abuse including alcohol and other central nervous system depressants, stimulants and hallucinogens. The unit will have a practical approach, covering issues of features of the substance use disorder, assessment, long term effects and complications, family issues and medical and psychosocial management.

The interface between the substance use disorder and mental health and the issue of “Dual Diagnosis”, i.e. the co-occurrence of serious mental illness and substance use disorder in a particular person will comprise a major focus of the selective. Issues specific to the field of “Dual Diagnosis” such as epidemiology, the relationship between mental disorder and substance use disorder, the diagnosis of the respective conditions and their acute and long-term management will be covered.

Delivery of care in various treatment settings such as inpatient care, home-based detoxification, and residential support and rehabilitation services will be examined. Theoretical aspects of addiction and the psychological framework for treatment such as Prochaska and Di Clemente’s ‘stages of change’, motivational interviewing, 12 steps program of AA, co-dependency, relapse prevention and Zinberg’s social setting will be explored. The wider impact of substance abuse in the community will be covered, including prevention and health promotion, public education, the media, political, economic and social issues related to the availability of substances.

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Psychodynamic principles and treatment underpin a broad range of psychological treatments in psychiatry. This unit is intended to provide an overview of broad principles of psychodynamic psychotherapy and their application to psychiatric assessment, intervention and management of a range of psychiatric conditions.

This unit will cover the skills and knowledge required as mandated Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) training in supportive psychotherapy and in managing the therapeutic alliance. The unit will also assist in tackling the long psychotherapy training case which is mandated RANZCP training.

The course will have sessions on psychodynamic theory starting with Freud, Klein and Winnicott (object relations) and move to contemporary and integrative developments such as mentalisation based psychodynamic psychotherapy thus linking with infant development and attachment theory.

The sessions to follow will concentrate on the therapeutic alliance, particularly boundaries and frame. Skills involved in using supportive psychotherapy based on psychodynamic principles in many therapeutic encounters will be covered including times-limited psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Sessions will be interactive using DVDs and group discussions in addition to didactic teaching.

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Transcultural psychiatry concerns itself with the:

1. nature of mental illness;
2. causes and distribution of mental illness in different populations;
3. culture and clinical practice, including the clinician-patient relationship; and the
4. design of mental health services in multicultural societies.

Students will examine the role of culture in the development and the treatment of mental illness, and will be provided with a short introduction into the education of mental health professionals, and the construction and operations of health systems. They will integrate cultural with biological, psychological and social considerations in their thinking about clincial practice and briefly consider the design and operations of the mental health service settings in which they work. Students will consider the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Australian community and the implications of such diversity for clinical practice. They will examine the cultural construction of concepts of mental illness and the cultural assumptions and commitments of contemporary psychiatry. Prevalence of mental illness in immigrant, refugee and Aboriginal communities will be explored as will the patterns of mental health service utilisation. Students will develop knowledge and skills i ncultural assessment, cross-cultural diagnosis and treatment.

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This subject is recommended to anyone who may be required to undertake a research project in the area of Mental Health during their studies or career. This subject is also a pre-requisite for any student interested to undertake the Psychiatric Research Project as their capstone in the Master of Psychiatry.

In this unit students will be given an introduction to research tools and practice at a basic or introductory level. The course will cover aspects of critical appraisal, research study design qualitative and quantitative statistical methodology and practical aspects of research, such as Ethics submission and seeking funding.

This course will be a mixture of didactic and practical aspects, noting that a number of the potential candidates will be preparing for a mandatory research experience as part of RANZCP training.

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This selective will provide a brief revision of basic pharmacological principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics including the relevance of age, gender, ethnicity, common drug interactions, environmental influences, route of administration. The primary focus of the different seminars will be the major drug types commonly used in psychiatric practice including the underlying neurochemical basis for their use in specific disorders and specified primary target syndromes and symptoms.

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This Unit will provide an introduction to the theory and practice of ethical decision-making in clinical psychiatry. Themes will extend over a wide terrain but cover ethical aspects of the psychiatrist – patient relationship, diagnosis, suicide, confidentiality, treatment in psychiatry, resource allocation and justice, child and adolescent psychiatry, psychogeriatrics and code of ethics.

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