Graduate Diploma in International Psychiatry (GD-INTPSYC)

Mental disorders contribute to a high proportion of the total burden of illness and disability worldwide, and their prevalence is increasing. These conditions range in severity from mild episodic symptoms to severely disabling depression, anxiety, substance misuse, and psychosis amongst others. The consequences of mental illness go beyond the individual sufferers to affect families, communities, healthcare services, social care, and criminal justice systems. The treatment of mental disorders requires a multidisciplinary approach, and highly trained medical expertise is essential to deliver a fully comprehensive biopsychosocial approach to assessment and management of patients. There is increasing recognition amongst psychiatrists of the extreme variability in quality of psychiatric training of general doctors and specialists around the world. There is a massive disparity in access to adequately trained doctors between low, middle, and high-income countries, as well as between urban and rural areas.

The Graduate Diploma of International Psychiatry (GDipPsych) course is aimed at medical professionals worldwide, who work with mentally ill patients in any capacity, or would like to develop their capacity to do so. The GDipPsych is limited to practicing doctors of any background or specialisation but not suitable for non-medical practitioners.

The GDipPsych is a part-time, fully online programme that consists of 4 compulsory subjects covering:

• Basic Clinical Skills in Psychiatry
• Psychiatric disorders
• Psychopharmacology and introduction to evidence based medicine and
• Social psychiatry

There is a focus on mental health across the globe, with awareness of issues relating to culture and socioeconomic diversity.

The Graduate Diploma of International Psychiatry offers a tiered approach to learning. The subjects provide essential background theory and foundation knowledge, and covers the most common psychiatric disorders encountered in adult populations worldwide. The GDipPsych will build upon pre-existing theoretical knowledge (gained by fulfilling entry requirements) and address a wider range of psychiatric disorders, with a focus on management using evidence-based approaches. There will also be an increased focus on basic sciences, and cultural/social aspects of mental health, psychology and mental healthcare service delivery.