The relevance of translational neuroscience in psychiatry residency training: Commentary on "Torous et al. A proposed solution to integrating cognitive-affective neuroscience and neuropsychiatry in psychiatry residency training: The time is now".

Abstract

In psychiatry, the critical influence of residency training in shaping one’s outlook toward the specialty cannot be overstated. It determines, to a large extent, conceptualization of mental phenomena/related disorders as well as formulation of specific treatment approaches. The psychiatry–neurology dualism that pervades most residency programs across the world has had an adverse impact on psychiatry training. This distinction between specialties largely stemmed from the fact that the pathophysiological processes that led to psychiatric symptoms were unknown at that point in time making them ‘‘functional’’. However, passage of time and lack of concerted attempts toward updating this understanding has resulted in the hitherto unknown being misunderstood as eternally unknowable or non-existent. This has led to cementing of psychiatric disorders as disorders of the ‘‘mind’’, clearly distinct from disorders of the ‘‘brain’’; so much so that several decades of dedicated and fruitful research into the biological basis of symptoms has largely failed to change this