Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The study of child and adolescent psychiatry is an essential component of the general psychiatry residency training program. The training is multifaceted, and includes developmental, psychosocial, neurobiological and cultural dimensions.

Residents have an opportunity to evaluate and treat children and adolescents from diverse backgrounds in inpatient and outpatient settings and in the context of the community in which they live. Clinical sites include the New York City Children’s Center,  Bronx Campus, with inpatient and day treatment for children up to 18 years of age, the Montefiore Medical Center Child and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic at Children's Hospital at Montefiore Einstein (CHAM), a state-of-the-art children's hospital that provides a wide range of medical services from primary to tertiary care, and community-based schools and clinics. An innovative Adolescent Suicide Prevention outpatient program, using dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), is available in the Child and Adolescent Outpatient Clinic as a rotation for elective study for interested residents. 

The breadth of psychiatric disorders with which patients present is large and ranges from adjustment disorders to psychotic spectrum disorders. Emerging character pathology, disorders of conduct and attention, mood and anxiety disorders, and substance abuse are frequently encountered problems. Residents conduct diagnostic assessments as part of a multidisciplinary team that includes psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses and teachers and learn how different mental health practitioners contribute to diagnosis and treatment.

Patients are treated with a variety of modalities, including individual psychotherapy, family therapy, group therapy, psychopharmacology and therapeutic meetings.

There is intensive supervision on all cases, with particular focus on issues of child and adolescent development and intrapsychic dynamics as well as state-of-the-art pharmacotherapy and cognitive and behavioral modalities. In addition, the resident has the opportunity to learn about consultation and forensic adolescent psychiatry.