Behavioral Medicine Therapy & Practicum I

Catalog description

This seminar introduces the practical experience of behavioral medicine. All students are assigned individual supervisors (licensed psychologists) and clinical case referrals through the Parnes Clinic. Clinical cases include patients preparing for bariatric surgery and patients with chronic medical diseases for psychological assessment and treatment. Course Objectives: Assessment: Students will be trained in psychological assessment techniques used in behavioral medicine. Training will include suicide risk assessment, differential diagnoses, and overlap between psychiatric and medical conditions; Report Writing: Students will learn how to write psychological reports based on their evaluations. This course will emphasize the differences between full-length, psychological reports and brief reports used in medical charts. Ethical concerns in report writing will also be discussed; Case Presentation: Students will be trained in case presentation and conceptualization skills. Instruction will include how to communicate findings to medical care providers and serve as a consultant-liaison; Treatment: Students will develop skills used in short-term psychotherapy to facilitate health behavior change; Supervision: Students will learn about the process of supervision and how to effectively use supervision time. Class time will also be devoted to discussion of cases and provide an opportunity for students to provide feedback to each other.