Didactic sessions are held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, depending on your PGY level. Most courses are faculty-led, with opportunities for residents to lead lectures as well. Sessions often bring together residents from different PGY levels, creating opportunities for collaboration, mentorship, and shared learning. In the first two years, the curriculum focuses on diagnosis, psychopharmacology, subspecialty treatments, and introductory therapeutic concepts. The final two years emphasize various therapies and advanced patient care topics.
On Tuesdays, all PGY levels come together for a lively, interactive learning experience. Sessions rotate through a variety of formats, including journal club, statistics, psychopharmacology, a writing course, and a Jeopardy-style team competition designed to reinforce key concepts for board exams.
Psychopharmacology training is woven throughout all four years of residency. PGY-1 residents begin with introductory pharmacology lectures, while PGY-2 residents advance to a clinically focused psychopharmacology series. All PGY levels participate in a combined case-based and Stahl’s-based course that emphasizes neurochemical and biochemical principles of treatment.
The Intern Series begins with orientation courses designed to prepare new residents for day-to-day clinical care, patient interactions, practical pharmacology, emergencies, and relevant state legal topics. This is followed by a DSM-5 formulation course, led jointly by faculty and upper-level residents, offered on Tuesday afternoons and repeated every six months to accommodate off-service rotations. Interns also receive an introduction to therapeutic concepts through courses in motivational interviewing and building therapeutic relationships and alliances.
Designed for PGY-1 residents, this class meets on select Tuesday afternoons before TBL and provides an introduction to psychological and cultural formulation.
On Tuesday afternoons, second-year residents take part in a subspecialty series covering consultation-liaison psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, geriatrics, cultural psychiatry, substance use, and forensics. The year concludes with an introduction to psychotherapy—covering attachment theory, object relations, and personality theory—to prepare residents for PGY-3 clinic work. Each segment is led by faculty with expertise in that specific area.
Advanced Patient Care Series (PGY-3 & PGY-4)
Held on Friday afternoons, this two-year series covers topics such as documentation, differential diagnosis, neuropsychiatry, acupuncture, and caring for special populations—including active-duty military personnel. It also includes career planning sessions. Presenters include both Tulane faculty and guest experts.
This year-long course for PGY-3 residents is held at the New Orleans–Birmingham Psychoanalytic Center in Uptown New Orleans. Sessions alternate between book chapter discussions and resident-led case presentations. Faculty includes Denise Dorsey, MD, and Dale Firestone, LCSW. Some residents choose to continue psychoanalytic training more formally, including one-on-one mentorship that can begin during residency and extend into early career.
In addition to individual and group supervision, our didactic curriculum offers extended series in specific treatment modalities. PGY-3 and PGY-4 residents share combined sessions, beginning with a cognitive behavioral therapy course led by a neuropsychologist, where residents discuss cases from their clinics. PGY-3 residents also receive training in acceptance and commitment therapy. PGY-4 residents expand their skills with courses in dialectical behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, trauma-focused therapy, couples therapy, and family therapy.
