Preventive psychiatry as the basis of an undergraduate medical curriculum

Abstract

The development of effective medical curricula is becoming increasingly challenging, due to the evolution of undergraduate medical education and ever dwindling resources. A paradigm shift is required for the evolution from traditional forms onto more innovative forms of curriculum development. On the other hand, despite compelling evidence on its clinical and cost-effectiveness, preventive psychiatry (mental illness prevention and mental health promotion) has been largely underrated, including in local and international policy, public health, clinical practice and also in education. As a substrate for the development of a medical curriculum, preventive psychiatry offers certain educational advantages owing to the importance of preventive thinking across psychiatry and the rest of medicine, its proximity to important educational outcomes (including crucial attitudes), its inclusion of generic clinical skills like communication skills, reflective capacity and empathy, its integrative and anti-stigma potential. Here preventive psychiatry is considered as a conceptual base on which a better undergraduate medical curriculum could be developed.