The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning outcomes

To acquire general knowledge on cultural, historical, scientific and normative evolution of the psychiatric care. General knowledge of the classification of mental disorders, of the ethio-pathogenetic models and of the prognosis. To acquire ability to place diagnoses and/or differential diagnostic hypotheses. Deepened knowledge of the evidence based psychopharmacology, with particular attention to the criteria to choose drugs, formulation of the treatment, maintenance therapy, short and long term adverse effects, toxicity from over-dosage, drugs interactions. General knowledge of the legislative and organizational aspects in psychiatry._______________________________________________________

Program

Programme in brief:
1 Psychiatry: an introductory lecture
2 Classification of mental disorders
3 General Psychopathology I
4 General Psychopathology II
5 Affective Disorders: an overview
6 Bipolar Disorder and Recurrent Depression
7 Affective Disorders: pharmacotherapy
8 Anxiety Disorders: an overview
9 Anxiety Disorders: pharmacotherapy
10 Somatoform Disorders
11 Organic Mental Disorders
12 Schizophrenia and Schizophreniform states: epidemiology and clinical presentations
13 Schizophrenia: courses and outcomes
14 Schizophrenia: pharmacotherapy
15 Personality Disorders: classification and clinical presentation
16 Liaison psychiatry
17 Strategies of psychological intervention
18 The social approach in psychiatry
19 Epidemiology of mental disorders
20 Communication in psychiatry
21 Alchool and Substance Abuse
22 Eating Disorders
23 Psychiatric legislation and Organization of services
24 Prevention, treatment and rehabilitation in psychiatry
Teaching Programme: Practicum (6 hours – 3 UDE – per student)

I° UDE: practical knowledge of the organization and functioning of a community mental health service
Through the description of the organizational structure and functioning of the service and the presentation of clinical cases.

II° UDE: elements on how to engage the patient
Through grand rounds

III° UDE: observing problem solving strategies in different facilities of the service
Through a visit to the facilities of the local Community Mental Health Service under the guidance of a tutor; meeting and interviewing patients in charge in the Psychiatric Ward, the Mental Health Centre or the Residential Facilities.

Bibliography

Examination Methods

Examination modality

Written, multiple-choice examination, on the following topics:
foundations of biological, psychological and social psychaitry; psychopathology and psychiatric semiotics, classification of disorders, clinical psychiatry, psychopharmacology, psychological and psychosocial treatments, rehabilitation, organization of psychiatric services, and questions to assess the learning degree after the practicum. The test database includes more than seven hundred questions devised by the teachers participating in the course, on various aspects of the discipline, randomly selected according to the procedure developed by the Docimological Centre of the University of Verona. In case of failure, or of low scoring, the student is allowed to withdraw, is informed of errors, and eventually to repeat the examination. The test generally includes forty questions in a given time of sixty minutes.