How to teach psychiatry to medical undergraduates in India?: A model

Abstract

Psychiatry is not considered important by most medical students. But knowledge of psychiatry is essential for all doctors as psychiatric problems are prevalent in the population either as part of other physical illnesses or independently. All medical practitioners need skills in communication and forming empathy and the ability to counsel that are learnt in psychiatry. Nearly all medical students feel psychiatry is not scientific enough and psychiatrists are peculiar. We need to make psychiatry interesting, and impart skills and techniques to practice psychiatry at the primary care level and in the process change the misconceptions students have of psychiatry. We present a model to accomplish this.