Residents Indulge in MindGames at Psychiatric Society Meeting

About 80 psychiatrists and psychiatry residents attended the eighth annual colloquium organized by the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society (PPS) on April 24.

The all-day event was held at Drexel University College of Medicine.

PPS is a chapter of the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society, an APA district branch, and represents more than 950 psychiatrists.

This year's colloquium featured a broad array of lecture and discussion topics. In the morning, Kyle Kampman, M.D., an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, provided an extensive summary of pharmacological treatments for substance use disorders with a focus on alcohol and opioid addiction. Kampman reviewed the medical literature and supplemented it with practical advice based on his clinical and research experience as medical director of the Charles O'Brien Center for Addiction Treatment in Philadelphia.

Carlos Zarate, M.D., chief of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Research Unit and associate clinical director of the Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), gave an overview of data on treatment-resistant depression and described NIMH research efforts to find new drug targets and new treatments for depression.

In the afternoon, Daniel Monti, M.D., described an eight-week mindfulness-based stress-reduction program at the Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Monti is the director of the center and an associate professor of psychiatry and emergency medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Medical College. The program combines lifestyle interventions with standard medical care for patients with cancer, pain, and other conditions. Patients take part in group classes of two-and-a-half hours per week, in which they practice guided meditation and light exercise with a trained instructor. A similar stress-reduction program is offered to health care professionals. “Our treatment plans comprehensively include everything from exercise and lifestyle ... to complementary modalities like acupuncture when they seem reasonable,” said Monti.

Finally, three small-group breakout sessions were held, which updated attendees on the latest knowledge regarding mood disorders, substance abuse, and adolescent psychiatry. At the same time, residents from six local institutions demonstrated their knowledge of psychiatric diagnosis and pharmacology in a “Jeopardy”-style contest similar to the popular MindGames competition held at APA annual meetings.

This was the first year for the “MindGames on the Schuylkill” contest at the PPS colloquium. Rajnish Mago, M.D., co-chair of the PPS Education Committee, wrote the questions and served as the game's emcee. Mago is director of the mood disorders program at Thomas Jefferson University. William Dubin, M.D., acting chair of psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine, and Thomas Newmark, M.D., chair of psychiatry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, served as judges.

Among the innovations for the quiz was the category of “Imitation,” for which residents were required to act out a typical psychiatric symptom such as “loose association” and “word salad.” The exercise elicited a lot of laughter from audience and judges alike and showed that few of the participants were sacrificing acting careers for psychiatric ones.

After several rounds of questions, University of Pennsylvania residents won the competition, narrowly defeating colleagues from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Both schools were finalists at the national MindGames competition during the 2009 APA annual meeting, which Albert Einstein won.

Additional information about PPS and its events can be accessed at <www.philadelphiapsychiatricsociety.org>.