Psyched: Educational Psychiatry Podcast

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners.This episode covers South Asian mental health with Dr. Farooq Naeem, a senior scientist with the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research and a psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is also a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto.Dr. Naeem pioneered techniques for culturally adapting CBT. These techniques have been used to adapt CBT in South Asia, North Africa, Middle East, Kenya and China. His research areas include CBT, psychosis, and culture, with an overall aim to improve access to CBT. He has also published on issues related to health services and quality improvement. He works with a team of IT experts and has developed a CBT-based therapy program — called eGuru — that can be delivered through web and smartphone apps.The learning objectives for this episode are as follows:By the end of this episode, you should be able to…Recognize the unique mental health challenges and barriers

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners.This short episode is about an approach to patients with psychotic symptoms.Hosts: Ravi Bhindi (CC3), Dr. Angad Singh (PGY2)Audio editing: Dr. Angad Singh (PGY2)Show notes: Dr. Angad Singh (PGY2)Infographic: Dr. Kate BraithwaiteReferences:Griswold, K. S., Del Regno, P. A., & Berger, R. C. (2015). Recognition and differential diagnosis of psychosis in primary care. American family physician, 91(12), 856-863.Hua, L. L., Alderman, E. M., Chung, R. J., Grubb, L. K., Lee, J., Powers, M. E., ... & Wallace, S. B. (2021). Collaborative care in the identification and management of psychosis in adolescents and young adults. Pediatrics, 147(6), e2021051486.Lieberman, J. A., & First, M. B. (2018). Psychotic disorders. New England Journal of Medicine, 379(3), 270-280.PsychDB. (2021, Jan 15). Psychotic Disorders. Retrieved July 15, 2025, from https://www.psychdb.com/psychosis/homePsychDB. (2022, Jan 26). Psychotic Depression. R

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners.This episode covers catatonia with Dr. Patricia Rosebush. Dr. Rosebush is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University. She is the distinguished author of numerous articles on clinical neuroscience, including considerable work on mitochondrial disorders in mental illness and over 30 papers on catatonia, and practices consultation-liaison psychiatry at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton.The learning objectives for this episode are as follows:By the end of this episode, the listener will be able to…Develop a conceptual understanding of catatoniaHave an approach for diagnosing catatoniaHave an approach for treating catatoniaGuest: Dr. Patricia RosebushHosts: Dr. Alastair Morrison (PGY1), Dr. Angad Singh (PGY1)Audio editing: Dr. Angad SinghShow notes: Dr. Alastair MorrisonInterview content:(01:20) Clinical features of catatonia (high level overview)(04:15) Clinical anecdote - an

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This short episode is about counselling patients on antidepressant medications.Hosts: Matthew Cho and Angad SinghAudio editing: Angad SinghTime Stamps:2:03 - Steps to antidepressant counselling7:31 - Frequently asked questions about antidepressantsRelated Episodes:PsychEd Episode 1: Diagnosis of Depression with Dr. Ilana ShawnPsychEd Episode 2: Treatment of Depression with Dr. Sidney KennedyPsychEd Episode 58: Depression in Children and Adolescents with Dr. Darren CourtneyPatient Education:UpToDate resource on ‘Medicines for Depression’: https://www.uptodate.com/contents/medicines-for-depression-the-basicsCAMH resource on ‘Antidepressant Medications’:https://www.camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-illness-and-addiction-index/antidepressant-medicationsKelty Mental Health resource on ‘Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors’: https://keltymentalhealth.ca/sites/default/files/resources/SSRI_MedicationSheet2022.pdf, References:PsychDB.

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This is our inaugural book club episode centered around the novel Mind Fixers by Anne Harrington.Mind Fixers is by the Harvard historian Anne Harrington, and came out from Norton in 2022. It reframes the “biological turn” in later twentieth century psychiatry with a history of the discipline from the later nineteenth century forward. Harrington argues that the biological turn had relatively little to do with new scientific advances, and came instead from a need to separate psychiatry from the increasingly unpopular public image of the discipline’s previous, “Freudian” age. To make this argument, she starts with the anatomic research of turn-of-the-century figures like Kraepelin, and how this generally failed to explain important mental illnesses. She traces the emergence of “Freudian” or psychological approaches to mental illness to the high point of their dominance in the mid twentieth century, and then their decline, as th

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This primer covers the differential diagnosis of dementia. Hosts: Dr. Alastair Morrison (PGY-1) and Dr. Angad Singh (PGY-1) Audio editing by: Dr. Angad Singh (PGY-1) Resources: MoCA: https://dementia.talkbank.org/protocol/materials/MOCA.pdf MMSE: https://meded.temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/sites/default/files/assets/resource/document/mini-mental-state-examinationmmse.pdf Beers Criteria: American Geriatrics Society 2023 updated AGS Beers Criteria® for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults PsychEd Episode 49: Dementia Assessment with Dr. Lesley Wiesenfeld References: American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596 Francis, J. & Young, B. (2022). Diagnosis of delirium and confusional states. UpToDate. Retrieved January 31, 2025, from https://www.uptodate.com/contents/delirium-and-acute-confusio

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers ADHD in youth with Dr. Daniel Gorman, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and a Staff Psychiatrist at The Hospital for Sick Children. Dr Gorman’s clinical and academic interests include ADHD, Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, child psychopharmacology, psychiatric education, and narrative medicine. He is highly involved in resident teaching and clinical supervision, and from 2014 to 2022 he was the Program Director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry subspecialty program at the University of Toronto. Dr. Gorman has given over 85 invited presentations and authored or co-authored over 35 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, mainly related to childhood neuropsychiatric disorders and their pharmacological management. He also contributed to several Canadian guidelines, including guidelines on cardiac risk assessment before the use of stimu

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers psychotherapy in youth with Dr. Laurence Katz, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Manitoba. Dr. Katz received his medical and adult psychiatric training at the University of Manitoba and his child and adolescent psychiatry training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx N.Y. He is an adjunct scientist at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy and has published numerous papers using the population health administrative database in mental health outcomes. He has held and been part of numerous grants funded by CIHR, PHAC, and other national funding agencies related to work with First Nations communities. Dr. Katz is widely published in particular in the areas of suicide and suicidal behaviour. His other research interests include Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, pharmacoepidemiology, and implementation of complex interventions. The learning objectives for this episode

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This is a special episode in a new series — the PsychEd Book Club, a forum where we'll introduce and discuss books of interest to psychiatry learners from a variety of disciplines, moving beyond epidemiology and clinical practice to look at science, history, culture, and more. We'll also invite you to read along and discuss with us as we read! Our book club episodes will start with a short introductory episode (like this one) sharing the book title and why we picked it. A few months later, we plan to release an episode debriefing our thoughts on the book. If there are specific things you want us to talk about, email us at psychedpodcast@gmail.com or reach out to us on social media and we will try to include them in our debrief! The first book we'll be covering is Anne Harrington's Mind Fixers: Psychiatry's Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness. This is a new history of psychiatry, from the later nineteenth centur

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers an introduction to consultation-liaison psychiatry with Dr. Raed Hawa and Dr. Alan Wai, both from the University of Toronto. Dr. Raed Hawa is an esteemed CL psychiatrist and educator. Dr Hawa's interests are in the areas of undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing medical education. He also practices general sleep medicine with particular clinical interest in the areas of insomnia, co-morbid psychiatric and medical illnesses, and sleep-related movement disorders. He currently serves as the President of the Canadian Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (CACLP) and holds the position of Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Additionally, Dr. Hawa is the Deputy Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the Centre for Mental Health, University Health Network. Dr. Hawa has earned American Board Certification in Psychiatry, with subspecialty certifications in Sleep Medicine and Psychosomatic Medi

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. In this episode, we discuss the practice of involuntary hospitalization (also referred to as involuntary commitment or certification) with two special guests and fellow podcast creators — Jesse Mangan and Dr. Jim McQuaid. Their podcast, Committable, focuses on the topic of involuntary commitment and features stories from people with lived experience as a window into complex conversations with attorneys, physicians, psychologists, and more. Jesse Mangan is the producer of Committable and someone who has experienced involuntary hospitalization. Dr. Jim McQuaid is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Framingham University. The learning objectives for this episode are as follows: By the end of this episode, the listener will be able to… Appreciate the individual and societal functions of involuntary hospitalization Understand the potential benefits and risks associated with involuntary hospitalization from the perspective

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers Antipsychotic Side Effects with our very own expert Dr Alex Raben, a staff psychiatrist in chronic care at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Dr. Raben graduated from medical school and completed residency at the University of Toronto. His academic interests include teaching and medical education scholarship with a particular interest in novel modalities of knowledge translation within the field of psychiatry. He is a founding member and Executive Director of PsychEd, this educational psychiatry podcast which aims to empower medical learners to seek out current knowledge from mental health experts to share with their colleagues around the world. The learning objectives for this episode are as follows: By the end of this episode, the listener will be able to… Outline the side effects of antipsychotics and their known/potential mechanisms Discuss management options for the different s

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers an introduction to forensic psychiatry with Dr. Amina Ali, a forensic psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Ali joined the Forensic Division at CAMH in 2018. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Prior to joining CAMH, Dr. Ali received her Doctor of Medicine at the American University of the Caribbean, completed her Psychiatry residency at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, and fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Ali's leadership experience includes serving as Chief resident during her residency, for which she was bestowed a Residency Leadership Award from the Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center. She is a Competence By Design coach to residents and serves on the Psychiatry Competency Committee and as a CaRMS file reviewer for the University

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode introduces the field of metabolic psychiatry, with a focus on patients with severe mental illness and metabolic syndrome. Our guest is Dr. Cindy Calkin, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Department of Neuroscience at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. Dr. Calkin has been a pioneer in the field of metabolic and neuroendocrine disorders in patients with bipolar disorder. Her research interests include examining the effects of obesity, insulin resistance and type II diabetes on the clinical course and outcomes in bipolar disorder. The learning objectives for this episode are as follows: By the end of this episode, the listener will be able to…  Describe the burden of metabolic syndrome in the population with severe mental illnesses Explain reasons for the comorbidity between metabolic syndrome and severe mental illness Identify biopsychosocial strategies to prevent or treat metabol

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers the field of critical psychiatry with Dr. Elia Abi-Jaoude and Lucy Costa. Dr. Abi-Jaoude is a staff psychiatrist at The Hospital for Sick Children and Assistant Professor and Clinician Investigator in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. Lucy Costa is Deputy Executive Director of the Empowerment Council, a voice for clients of mental health and addiction services primarily at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.   While this topic could be very philosophical and expansive, we are going to focus our discussion by considering the practical implications of this field on psychiatric practice. What do you need to know about critical psychiatry as a trainee, and how might it impact your clinical practice?   The learning objectives for this episode are as follows: By the end of this episode, the listener will be able to… Define the term critical psychi

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers depression in children and adolescents with Dr. Darren Courtney, a scientist with the Cundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression and the Margaret and Wallace McCain Centre for Child, Youth and Family Mental Health and a staff psychiatrist in the Youth Addictions and Concurrent Disorders Service at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.   Dr. Courtney earned his MD in 2004 at Queen’s University and completed psychiatry residency in 2009 at the University of Ottawa. He was the clinical director of the Youth Inpatient Unit at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre from 2009 to 2014 and moved to Toronto in 2014, where he worked on the Concurrent Youth Inpatient Unit at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health until 2017 and where his clinical work with concurrent disorders continues now w

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers HIV/AIDS psychiatry with special guests from two international settings to provide complementary perspectives on HIV psychiatry. Dr. Adriana Carvalhal, HIV Psychiatrist and Staff Psychiatrist at Scarborough Health Network in Canada and Dr. Leigh Van Den Heuvel, Psychiatrist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. The learning objectives for this episode are as follows:  By the end of this episode, you should be able to… Understand the unique mental health needs of people living with HIV and the bidirectional relationship between HIV and mental health Identify HIV-specific mental health disorders and how to screen for these conditions Outline the overall approach to treatment for HIV patients with mental health disorders Guests: Dr. Adriana Carvalhal and Dr Leigh Van Den Heuvel Produced by: Saja Jaberi (MD), Kate Braithwaite (MD) and Gaur

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers trauma and addictions with Dr. Gabor Maté, a retired physician who, after 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience, worked for over a decade in Vancouver’s Downtown East Side with patients challenged by drug addiction and mental illness. The bestselling author of five books published in thirty languages, including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, Dr. Maté is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. For his groundbreaking medical work and writing he has been awarded the Order of Canada, his country’s highest civilian distinction, and the Civic Merit Award from his hometown, Vancouver. His fifth book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture was released on September 13, 2022.   The learning obje

Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) and mental illness as a sequel to our previous episode on MAiD with our guest experts, Dr. Sonu Gaind and Dr. Jeffrey Kirby. This episode was originated by Dr. Urvashi Prasad for her Grand Rounds.   The learning objectives for this episode are as follows: By the end of this episode, the listener will be able to… Gain an understanding of the current state of Medical Assistance in Dying for primarily mental illness in Canada Evaluate the arguments in support of and against implementation of Medical Assistance in Dying for primarily Mental Illness  Understand next steps and future directions of Medical Assistance in Dying for primarily mental illness in Canada Discuss the possible impact that Medical Assistance in Dying might have on the profession of psychiatry    Guest Experts: Dr. Sonu Gaind who is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tor

Welcome to PsychEd - the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners. This episode covers the relationship between cannabis and psychotic disorders, as well as the potential impact of cannabis legalization in Canada, with our special guest Dr. Nitin Chopra. This episode was originated by Dr. Luke Fraccaro for his Grand Rounds.   The learning objectives for this episode are as follows:  By the end of this episode, you should be able to… Briefly summarize the effects of cannabis on mental health and cognition, with a focus on psychosis. Appreciate the evidence for cannabis use as a potential cause of persistent psychotic disorders. Discuss the possible impact that recent cannabis legislation may have had on cannabis use and psychosis in Canada.   Guest Expert Dr. Nitin Chopra is an addictions psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He has an interest in concurrent disord