The
UCI Psychiatry and Spirituality Forum
The Forum is dedicated to
recognizing, appreciating, and exploring the connection between patients’ mental
health and their spiritual, religious, philosophical, and moral
convictions. This is done through educational, clinical, research and community
outreach activities. Members include attending and resident physicians, medical
students, other health care professionals, and scholars from the social sciences
and humanities. Our activities are grounded in the belief that modern
psychiatry has much to offer religious believers, as well as the conviction that
spiritual and religious traditions have a great deal to teach those dedicated to
promoting mental health and human flourishing.
Current Forum activities include
sponsoring highly prestigious speakers in the area of spirituality and health.
We meet regularly to discuss scholarly work and conduct case conferences.
Community outreach activities include education for local clergy and religious
leaders on mental health issues, and volunteer work at local shelters. The
Forum sponsors core lectures covering religious and spiritual issues for all
psychiatric residents across the first three years of residency training. The
Mental Health and Spirituality Clinic, which will be located in Irvine, is
scheduled to open in January, 2007.
The Forum is supported by grants
from the Metanexus Institute and the George Washington Institute for
Spirituality and Health. We also receive administrative, institutional, and
financial support from the UCI Department of Psychiatry.
For more information on the
Forum, e-mail the Forum’s Director:
Aaron Kheriaty, MD,
akheriat@uci.edu
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
Elective
Starting in their third year of
training (PGY-3) UCI psychiatric residents have the opportunity to
participate in the two year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program at
the New Center for Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles. The New Center is the
only psychoanalytic organization in the Los Angeles - Orange County area
that is affiliated with both the American Psychoanalytic Association and the
International Psychoanalytic Association. Classes meet one evening per week
for two years. The New Center gives a tuition discount to UCI residents.
Completing this outstanding program will prepare the UCI graduate to
practice psychoanalytic psychotherapy at an advanced and sophisticated
level. The knowledge of human emotional development, personality theory,
and psychopathology, acquired in this course will enhance all areas of
psychiatric practice.
Meditation Group
"The meditation group run by UCI
psychiatry residents provides a forum for healthcare professionals to
co-explore various meditation techniques in order to integrate these into
one's personal and professional life. This group is open to attendings,
residents, students, and staff and meets twice monthly at the UCI medical
campus. Residents in the past have led the groups in such practices as:
mindful awareness, focused attention and concentration, guided imagery,
yoga, martial arts, energy work, and other contemplative practices from a
number of spiritual traditions. The group welcomes new members and anyone
interested or curious about meditation and relaxation."
