The role of the Department of Psychological Medicine is to perform research and
teaching in psychiatry, health psychology and consultation skills to the highest
possible standards and to contribute to the delivery of high quality health care
in the wider community.
The Department of Psychological Medicine was formed in late 2004 from the merger
of the Departments of Psychiatry and Health Psychology.
The department also houses the
Werry Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty that deals with the study and treatment of mental
illnesses and of other disorders, both behavioural and physical, in which psychological
factors are important as causes or clinical features. Modern psychiatry has divided
into a number of sub-specialities: Child and Adolescent psychiatry concentrates
on disorders in children and adolescents; Forensic psychiatry studies the interaction
between psychiatry and the law; Psycho-geriatrics examines the psychiatry of old
age; Consultation-liaison psychiatry deals with the interaction between physical
and mental disease in the broadest sense and includes psychosomatic medicine and
psychological reactions to physical disorders, while Social and Community psychiatry
is concerned with social determinants of mental illness and with the provision of
a co-ordinated programme of mental health to a specified population. Other sub-fields
include the addictions, eating disorders and neuro-psychiatry. The area of study
of psychiatry thus includes a range of disorders that extends from those for which
there are obvious brain abnormalities such as the various dementia’s through to
deviations of personality development.
Health psychology
Health psychology has become the most rapidly growing field of psychology over the
past 15 years. The field is concerned with understanding human behaviour in the
context of health and illness. As such the field is a large one and covers such
areas as: how individuals cope with illness and chronic disease; psychological influences
on the development of disease states; understanding and improving adjustment in
healthcare settings; patient - practitioner communication; adherence to treatment;
determinants of health-related behaviours (diet, exercise etc), and understanding
how individuals make sense of and react to health screening, symptoms, and illness.
Consultation skills
Courses are taught to undergraduate medical students focusing on a multidisciplinary
approach to personal and professional development, with an increasing emphasis on
the clinical context. Topics include ethics, communication skills, personal development,
health psychology and consideration of cultural issues. Teaching will be focused
around clinical interactions and the development of professional skills.
Medical Humanities
The Medical Humanities aims to provide medical students with the opportunity to
study medical issues from the point of view of a humanities discipline. To that
end we offer students a choice of courses from a variety of different humanities
specialities. For more information please
click here.
