Department of Psychiatry

Neuropsychiatry Service and Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program

The Neuropsychiatry Service and Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program is a multidisciplinary clinical and research service within the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Denver. The principal focus of the Neuropsychiatry Service is the development and execution of clinical research projects regarding disturbances of cognition, emotion, and behavior among patients with neurologic conditions. This service also provides clinical consultation and limited treatment services to patients with a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions, and in the course of so doing provides training experiences in neuropsychiatry for residents in both psychiatry and neurology.

Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program

Although the research activities of the Neuropsychiatry Service faculty are many and varied, they are particularly committed to advancing the state of knowledge about the neuropsychiatric sequelae of traumatic brain injury. As such, the Neuropsychiatry Service is the host to the Department of Psychiatry’s Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program. Dr. Arciniegas is the principal investigator of these studies, which include electrophysiologic, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, neurogenetic, and pharmacologic treatment studies in this area.

What is neuropsychiatry?

Neuropsychiatry is the medical specialty committed to better understanding brain-behavior relationships, and to the care of individuals with neurologically based cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disturbances.

What is a neuropsychiatrist?

A neuropsychiatrist is a physician (M.D. or D.O.) qualified to practice neuropsychiatry by virtue of either 1) primary training in either psychiatry or neurology followed by a period of at least one year of fellowship training in neuropsychiatry/behavioral neurology, or 2) formal residency training in both psychiatry and neurology. Psychiatrists or neurologists with many years of extensive clinical, educational, and scientific experience in the field of neuropsychiatry may also merit this specialty designation.

Which patients are best served by neuropsychiatric consultation or treatment?

The Neuropsychiatry Service serves adults and older adults with neurologic illness and cognitive, emotional, or behavioral problems; individuals with combined psychiatric illnesses and neurologic conditions; and individuals with atypical or refractory primary psychiatric disorders in which there is concern that an underlying neurological condition may be causing the "psychiatric" symptoms.

The Neuropsychiatry Clinic provides clinical consultative and treatment services to patients with traumatic brain injuries, neurodegenerative disorders (such as Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and Huntington’s disease), stroke, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, psychotic, mood, and/or anxiety disorders due to general medical conditions, and pseudoneurological conditions (e.g., pseudoseizures, functional gait disturbances, etc).

What is included in a neuropsychiatric consultation?

Neuropsychiatric evaluations include thorough medical, neurological, neuropsychiatric, substance, and developmental histories, and full medical, neurological, and mental status examinations. It is not unusual to also perform one or more laboratory (including electroencephalographic and neuroimaging) assessments. Neuropsychiatric treatments are most often medication-based, and applied in a context of multimodal (medical, psychological, social) and multidisciplinary (neurologic, psychiatric, rehabilitative, neuropsychological, etc.) treatment. These treatments are generally offered as recommendations to the patient, family, and referring physician, care provider, or treatment team.

How can patients access the Neuropsychiatry Clinic?

The clinic may be accessed by either patient self-referral or at the request of any health-care provider. Requests for neuropsychiatric consultation should be directed to the Adult Outpatient Clinic in the Department of Psychiatry (303-724-1000). All requests for consultation undergo an initial screening for eligibility. Eligible patients are scheduled for a comprehensive neuropsychiatric consultation with one of the core faculty and/or resident physicians rotating on this service.

What are other activities of the Neuropsychiatry Service?

The Neuropsychiatry Service is also a major source of education for residents in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology. In particular, Drs. Arciniegas and Dr. C. Alan Anderson presently serve as the Director and Co-Director, respectively, of the PGY-IV Neuroscience Course in the Department of Psychiatry.

The Neuropsychiatry Service also is involved actively in community education in various forms. Dr. Arciniegas is a regular lecturer to and for the Brain Injury Association of Colorado, and an educator and political advocate for brain-injury related legislative efforts in Colorado. Dr. Arciniegas presently serves as the Chair of the Colorado Brain Injury Advisory Board, a coalition of public and private agencies, TBI survivors and their family members, and other advocacy organizations organized by the State of Colorado Department of Human Services Office of Behavioral Health and Housing. He is also a frequent lecturer locally and nationally on a range of topics in neuropsychiatry. Dr. Anderson is similarly active as a lecturer for the Alzheimer’s Association, the Colorado Chapter of the National Stoke Association, and frequently lectures on related topics at industry-sponsored events.

Neuropsychiatry Service Staff

David B. Arciniegas, M.D. – Neuropsychiatry Service Director, and Director of the Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry Fellowship Training Program

C. Alan Anderson, M.D. – Attending Behavioral Neurologist and Associate Director of the Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry Fellowship Training Program

Christopher M. Filley, M.D. – Attending Behavioral Neurologist and Associate Director of the Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry Fellowship Training Program

Jeannie Topkoff, B.S. – Professional Research Assistant

Kimberly Frey, M.S., SLP-CCC – Speech Pathologist and Professional Research Assistant