Letter from the Chair
Psychiatry—the clinical discipline that treats mental and behavioral disorders—draws from twin roots in the neurosciences and humanistic psychology. Clinically, we combine modern evidence-
based psychopharmacology with psychodynamic psychotherapies, a long-standing strength of our Department. The Department’s research extends the boundaries of our clinical approaches. Molecular neurobiology and genetics, multimodal brain imaging, and new drug development are all supported by the National Institute of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs Research Centers in Schizophrenic and Substance Abuse, and grants that support instruments for gene sequencing and expressions, magnetoencephalography, and magnetic resonance imaging. Psychological approaches benefit from new research in cognitive behavioral therapies supported by the Department’s node of the Clinical Trials Network of the National Institute of Drug Abuse, studies of infant and child development by the Developmental Psychobiology Research Group and the Harris Infant Program, and cross-cultural studies of the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs. The Denver Psychoanalytic Institute, based in the Department, continues the modern development of this classical strength.
Departmental Clinical Services emphasize the use of this new knowledge for the benefit of patients. The Psychiatric Service at University of Colorado Hospital, which opened its new inpatient service at the Anschutz Medical Campus in 2005, is a National Institute of Mental Health Center for treatment outcome in Bipolar Disorder and Center for Clinical Investigation of new drugs. Its psychodynamic psychotherapy clinic is a unique clinical and training resource. The Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center is the recently designated national center for prevention of suicide in Iraq War Veterans. The Addiction Research and Treatment Service treats the early development of substance abuse in adolescence. The Children’s Hospital has specialized treatment programs in eating disorders, art and yoga therapy, and bipolar disorder. Denver Health Medical Center is a model of integrated, community-based care. National Jewish Medical and Research Center specializes in behavioral care for asthmatic patients. Programs in childhood onset schizophrenia, autism, forensic psychiatry, and neuropsychology and dementia, are centered in the Department. In November 2005, the Center for Drug Addiction and Rehabilitation (CeDAR), an 80-patient treatment facility, opened at Anschutz Medical Campus.
Our trainees—medical students, graduate students, residents in psychiatry and child psychiatry, and fellows in addiction, forensics, neuropsychiatry and research trainees in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, and psychology and social work interns—have access to these clinical and research programs. Residents, students, and trainees have participated in brain imaging, molecular analysis, treatment outcome assessment, telepsychiatry, and specialized training in psychotherapies. Our faculty seek to prepare them for a new psychiatric practice that will be impacted by the rapid increase in knowledge about the brain and its behaviors.
The pages of this website describe many of these educational, research, and clinical programs. I encourage you to read them and to contact our faculty or me for further details. Of course, our Department takes great pride in each of these accomplishments, but in the aggregate they have an even greater significance. Looking at these programs as a whole, we hope that they provide you with an appreciation for what psychiatry is becoming and how it is developing a vital new generation of treatments for patients with mental disorders.
Many generous persons have philanthropically supported the Department’s efforts: Jerome and Mary Rossick Kern, John Malone, Richard Saunders, Fred and Roxanne Vierra, and the Institute for Children’s Mental Disorders; Dr. Nancy and Sam Gary; the Michael and Bette Cooper family, the James Brady family; the James Voorhees family; Robert Miller; and Irving Harris are among the people whose foresight supports the future of our work.
Sincerely yours,
Robert Freedman, M.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Psychiatry
Robert.Freedman@uchsc.edu
303-315-8403
