The primary objective of our residency training program is to train academically knowledgeable, clinically astute and caring psychiatrists. Our clinically based program offers experiences in: inpatient, outpatient, consultation-liaison, geriatric, forensic, substance abuse, and child and adolescent psychiatry. Throughout training, biological, psychological and sociocultural factors are integrated so that the resident becomes adept at selecting and utilizing the most current methods of biotherapy, psychotherapy and sociotherapy. While emphasizing clinical psychiatry, the residency program provides ample opportunity for the resident to learn and develop administrative, teaching and research skills.

Our departmental faculty is deeply committed to the intellectual growth and emotional well-being of our residents. Learning is reinforced through careful supervision of all clinical work, comprehensive didactic seminars which build on each other and are integrated with the clinical program, case conferences, grand rounds, journal clubs and the mentorship program. Residents actively participate in all levels of training and planning. Evaluation of the program, its trainees and its faculty, receives the highest departmental priority.

The University of California San Diego Department of Psychiatry is fully accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Applicants from medical schools throughout the country are selected in a highly personal way. A limited number of applicants are accepted in order to insure close, personal contact between faculty and residents. Our program has approximately thirty-six residents and at least twelve fellows. In addition to formal postgraduate psychiatry training, the Department of Psychiatry participates in the training of medical students, primary care physicians, neurology residents, social workers, registered nurses, vocational rehabilitation counselors, psychologists, psychiatric technicians and paraprofessional drug abuse counselors enrolled in affiliated training programs.