In this profound episode of Psychiatry Boot Camp, host Dr. Mark Mullen sits down with world-renowned researcher and clinician Dr. Jonathan Shedler. Moving beyond the "alphabet soup" of modern modalities, Dr. Shedler argues for a return to the foundational psychoanalytic principles that constitute the "trunk and roots" of all effective talk therapy.The discussion challenges the standard medical model of "diagnose and prescribe," urging psychiatrists to unlearn passive history-taking in favor…
In this brief bonus segment of Psychiatry Boot Camp, host Dr. Mark Mullen steps into the feed with a direct request from you...the listeners.As Season Four approaches its conclusion, the platform is shifting its final episode to a peer-responsive format driven entirely by listener inputs. Dr. Mullen notes that the season has featured highly controversial topics and that he frequently abandoned an unbiased stance to take explicit clinical positions.Psychiatrists, residents, and mental he…
In this episode of Psychiatry Boot Camp, host Dr. Mark Mullen is joined by Dr. Justin Romano, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and host of the Millennial Mental Health Channel.Dr. Romano explores the burgeoning crisis of screen dependence and technology addiction, drawing parallels between cell phone use and traditional substance use disorders. The discussion highlights how addictive design, powered by algorithms and AI, hijacks the dopamine reward pathways in children’s plastic, develop…
In this provocative episode of Psychiatry Boot Camp, Dr. Omar Mirza discusses the limitations and potential harms of the standard Applebaum-Grisso criteria for decisional capacity.Dr. Mirza argues that the current medicalized focus on cognitive abilities (understanding, appreciation, reasoning) can inadvertently subvert patient autonomy. The conversation traces the legal evolution of informed consent, from Schloendorff to the Nuremberg Code, and introduces radical alternative frameworks: Dr…
In this second part of a special double feature, Dr. Awais Aftab, MD, Clinical Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University, presents a rigorous framework for the next iteration of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.Dr. Aftab details six specific structural reforms for the DSM-6, beginning with a conceptual clarification of "mental disorder" to distinguish between biological dysfunction and socio-cultural atypicality. The discussion challenges the arbitrary …
In this episode of Psychiatry Boot Camp, host Dr. Mark Mullen sits down with Dr. Awais Aftab, MD, a psychiatrist and Clinical Associate Professor at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Aftab, well-known for his "Psychiatry at the Margins" Substack and "Conversations in Critical Psychiatry" series, explores the necessity of "conceptual competence" in modern practice. The discussion delves into the "Psychiatric Psychodrama," analyzing how material inequalities fuel polarized culture wars between…
In this episode of Psychiatry Boot Camp, Dr. Mark Mullen speaks with Dr. Owen Muir, psychiatrist, entrepreneur, and Chief Medical Officer of Radial Health, about the growing role of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in psychiatric treatment.The discussion explores how TMS works as a form of noninvasive neuromodulation, using focused magnetic fields to influence neural circuits implicated in depression and other psychiatric conditions. Dr. Muir reviews the evidence supporting TMS for…
In this episode of Psychiatry Boot Camp, Dr. Mark Mullen speaks with psychiatrist and medical ethicist Dr. Mark Komrad about physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, focusing particularly on their implications for psychiatric practice.The discussion reviews the terminology, legal frameworks, and international trends surrounding assisted death, including developments in Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, and multiple U.S. states. Dr. Komrad outlines concerns regarding capacity assessments, …
In this episode of Psychiatry Boot Camp, Dr. Mark Mullen is joined by Dr. Mark Ruffalo for an in-depth examination of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), a construct widely discussed in academic and public discourse, but not currently recognized as a distinct DSM diagnosis.The conversation situates C-PTSD within the historical and theoretical landscape of psychiatry, tracing its origins to Judith Herman’s work and examining its proposed relationship to borderline personality …
In this episode of Psychiatry Boot Camp, Dr. Mark Mullen speaks with Jesse Bogan, journalist with The Marshall Project, about a profound and often invisible failure at the intersection of psychiatry and the criminal legal system: the prolonged incarceration of individuals found incompetent to stand trial without access to timely psychiatric treatment.Using Missouri as a case study, the conversation traces how defendants with severe mental illness can spend months to years in jail awaiting c…
In this episode of Psychiatry Bootcamp, Dr. Mark Mullen is joined by Dr. Dinah Miller, psychiatrist, writer, and author of Committed: The Battle Over Involuntary Psychiatric Care, for a rigorous examination of civil commitment and involuntary treatment in modern psychiatry.The conversation explores the legal structures underlying involuntary hospitalization, medication over objection, and outpatient civil commitment, while highlighting the profound ethical tensions between patient autonomy,…
Psychiatry stands at the threshold of one of its greatest disruptions, the rise of artificial intelligence. In this episode, Dr. Mark Mullen speaks with Dr. Allen Frances, Professor Emeritus and former Chair of Psychiatry at Duke University and Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force, about the clinical, ethical, and societal implications of AI’s rapid entry into mental health care. Drawing from his recent paper in the British Journal of Psychiatry (August 2025), Dr. Frances explores how psychotherapy c…
Welcome to Season 4! Join Dr. Mark Mullen and expert guests as we explore AI in psychotherapy, emerging treatments, and the ethical, clinical questions reshaping psychiatric care, and MUCH more. To share topic ideas, ask ques...
Dr. Nicholas Kontos, Director of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, joins us for a reflective conversation on fact...
Dr. Caitlin Adams, psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, provides an overview of functional neurological disorder (FND). This episode covers how to recognize, explain, and treat FND using a modern, evidence-based, a...
Dr. Christina Wichman, Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology, Medical Director of The Periscope Project and Director of Women’s Mental Health at the Medical College of Wisconsin, joins us for an in-depth introdu...
Today we have TWO world renowned experts to teach us about eating disorders! Dr. Anne O'Melia is the Chief Clinical and Quality Officer at ERC Pathlight, where she leads a multidisciplinary team of over 1,000 therapists, diet...
Dr. Mira Zein, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stanford University, walks us through decisional capacity determinations. This is a great episode for learners rotating through a consultation-liaison...
Dr. Paula Zimbrean, Professor of Psychiatry and Yale School of Medicine and Director of Transplant Psychiatry Services at Yale New Haven Hospital, introduces us to the field of transplant psychiatry. We discuss the role of ps...
A season on consultation-liaison psychiatry would not be complete without an episode on suicide risk assessment! Dr. Black: "I say without exaggeration that this podcast, in which Dr. Mullen and I discuss suicide risk assessm...
Dr. George Grossberg, Henry and Amelia Nasrallah Endowed Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Neuroscience at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, past president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, and...
Dr. Mark Oldham, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center, President of the American Delirium Society, and Deputy Editor of the Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry,...
Dr. Mark Oldham, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center, President of the American Delirium Society, and Deputy Editor of the Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry,...
Dr. Mark Oldham, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at University of Rochester Medical Center, President-Elect of the American Delirium Society, and Deputy Editor of the Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatr...