Podcast · Learning

Psychiatry Boot Camp

by Mark Mullen, MD · English · Learning

Your clear, practical introduction to the field of psychiatry.  Each episode features a leading expert unpacking complex topics like suicide risk, schizophrenia, catatonia, and childhood anxiety. Originally created as a crash course for new doctors, Psychiatry Boot Camp has grown into essential

New episodes: Every two weeks
Typical length: 1 hr 4 min
Latest: 4 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

4 Oct 2026 · 43 min

Is the Gold Standard of Decisional Capacity Assessment Broken? with Dr. Jacob Appel

In this episode of Psychiatry Bootcamp, Dr. Mark Mullen welcomes Dr. Jacob Appel, psychiatrist, attorney, bioethicist, polymath, and emergency psychiatrist, for a rigorous and clinically grounded critique of the Applebaum-Grisso "Four Abilities Model" of decisional capacity assessment. Dr. Appel traces the model's origins in the 1980s as a patient-empowerment tool, examines how its statutory adoption across more than half of US states has calcified it beyond its original intent, and describes in detail the categories of patients for whom the model systematically fails. As an alternative, Dr.…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

21 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
Firearm Violence as a Public Health Crisis with Dr. Kristin Mueller
In this episode of Psychiatry Boot Camp recorded live at Saint Louis University, Dr. Mark Mullen is joined by Dr. Kristin Mueller, an emergency medicine physician and physician-researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, for a discussion on firearm violence as a public health crisis. Dr. Mueller, who works closely with the Life Outside of Violence hospital-based violence intervention program, walks through the clinical fundamentals of lethal means counseling, including a live mock counseling session demonstrating how to approach a patient in mental health crisis with access to…
7 Sep 2026 · 50 min
Connection, Not Correction: Motivational Interviewing with Dr. Allison Hadley
Dr. Mark Mullen welcomes Dr. Allison Hadley, a psychiatrist and medical director of the psychiatric emergency service at Oregon Health & Science University, for a discussion on motivational interviewing in high-acuity psychiatric settings. Dr. Hadley introduces a novel teaching framework that draws on Tina Fey's rules of improv from her memoir Bossy Pants, mapping core improv principles, including "yes, and," making statements rather than only asking questions, and treating perceived mistakes as opportunities, onto the foundational techniques of motivational interviewing. The conversation…
24 Aug 2026 · 58 min
NAMI to FNIH: Grand Rounds on Mental Health Innovation w/ Dr. Christine Crawford & Steve Hoffmann
Dr. Mark Mullen welcomes Dr. Christine Crawford, Chief Medical Officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and author of You Are Not Alone: For Parents and Caregivers, alongside Steve Hoffmann, Senior Vice President and Chief Preclinical Officer at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH). Dr. Crawford discusses NAMI's mission and its 650 chapters nationwide, the concept of the "distress radius" as a framework for identifying when a child's behavioral changes warrant professional evaluation, and practical strategies for engaging skeptical patients and…
10 Aug 2026 · 50 min
Inside Pediatric Emergency Psychiatry with Dr. Megan Schott
Dr. Mark Mullen welcomes Dr. Megan Schott, a child and adolescent psychiatrist specializing in pediatric emergency psychiatry, for a discussion on the escalating boarding crisis affecting youth in psychiatric emergencies. Dr. Schott, who has built pediatric emergency psychiatry programs from the ground up across multiple academic health systems, details how the presence of a trained child psychiatrist in the emergency department can reduce unnecessary admissions by more than half. The conversation examines the definition of boarding, the systemic and financial pressures that limit…
27 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 16 min
A Practical Guide to the Psychiatry Match with Dr. Lia Thomas
In this Season 5 premiere of Psychiatry Boot Camp, Dr. Mark Mullen welcomes Dr. Lia Thomas, Associate Program Director at UT Southwestern, co-lead psychiatry specialty advisor for medical students at UTSW, and co-chair of the Psychiatry Residency Application Advisor Group for ADMSEP , for a comprehensive, practical review of the psychiatry residency match process. Speaking from both the program director's and specialty advisor's perspectives, Dr. Thomas addresses the questions medical students and their advisors most frequently encounter: how many programs to apply to, how to strategically…
29 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
Psychiatry's Most Controversial Topics: Dr. Mark Mullen's Season 4 Retrospective with Dr. Preston Roche
In this season finale of Psychiatry Bootcamp, Dr. Mark Mullen assumes the role of guest as he is interviewed by guest host Dr. Preston Roche, co-host of How to Be a Patient, in a wide-ranging retrospective on Season 4. Drawing on listener questions, critical feedback, and audience-submitted comments curated from Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, and email, the episode revisits the season's most clinically significant and intellectually provocative conversations, including sports psychiatry, meaningful psychotherapy, problematic screen use, decisional capacity, DSM reform, TMS, physician-assisted…
15 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 15 min
Inside Sports Psychiatry with Dr. David McDuff
In this episode of Psychiatry Bootcamp, Dr. Mark Mullen welcomes Dr. David McDuff, the "grandfather" of sports psychiatry, to examine the origins, clinical framework, and practical application of this rapidly evolving subspecialty. Dr. McDuff brings more than three decades of experience as team psychiatrist for the Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Ravens, alongside service on the International Olympic Committee's Mental Health Working Group, to offer a uniquely authoritative perspective on mental health care in elite sport. Takeaways: The sports psychiatrist functions as an embedded, on-site…
1 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
Meaningful Psychotherapy: Psychoanalytic Principles in Modern Psychotherapy with Dr. Jonathan Shedler
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 of a collaborative partnership that traverses into the unknown. From critiquing the superficiality of…
25 May 2026 · 2 min
BONUS: Call for Submissions: Shaping the Season Four Final Forum
In this brief bonus segment of Psychiatry Boot Camp, host Dr. Mark Mullen steps into the feed with a direct request from you...the listenters. 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 health professionals are invited to submit their critiques, follow-up questions on any covered material,…
18 May 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
Identifying and Addressing Problematic Screen Use with Dr. Justin Romano
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, developing brains. Dr. Romano provides a sobering look at societal consequences, from the rise of "technology…
4 May 2026 · 1 hr 12 min
Decisional Capacity: Rethinking the Standard of Care with Dr. Omar Mirza
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. Jacob Appell’s Values-Based Assessment and Dr. Mirza’s own "FREE WILL" model. This episode…
20 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
Six Critical Suggestions for DSM-6 with Dr. Awais Aftab
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 nature of current diagnostic thresholds and the "equalizing" effect of the manual that obscures the…
6 Apr 2026 · 47 min
Scientific Pluralism and the Evolution of Psychiatric Classification with Dr. Awais Aftab
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 "repenting" and "repressing" psychiatric factions. Dr. Aftab further defines scientific pluralism,…
23 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 22 min
TMS for Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Clinical Guide with Dr. Owen Muir
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 treatment-resistant depression, explains the FDA clearance pathway for neuromodulation devices, and…
9 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 14 min
Physician Assisted Suicide: Clinical, Legal, and Ethical Implications for Psychiatry with Dr. Mark Komrad
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, the expansion from terminal illness to psychiatric suffering, and the ethical tensions between…
23 Feb 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
Complex PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Diagnostic Validity with Dr. Mark L. Ruffalo
In this episode of Psychiatry Bootcamp, 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 disorder and classical PTSD. Dr. Ruffalo explores core questions of diagnostic validity versus…
9 Feb 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
Severe Mental Illness Behind Bars: A Breakdown in Care with Jesse Bogan
In this episode of Psychiatry Bootcamp, 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 competency evaluations and restoration, despite legal mandates requiring prompt assessment and care.…
26 Jan 2026 · 1 hr 2 min
Involuntary Psychiatric Treatment in Modern Psychiatry with Dr. Dinah Miller
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, public safety, and clinical responsibility. Dr. Miller traces the historical evolution of involuntary…
12 Jan 2026 · 48 min
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Psychiatry with Dr. Allen Frances
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 chatbots have already become the world’s most widely used form of therapy, often beneficial for mild…
29 Dec 2025 · 2 min
Beyond Boot Camp: Conversations on Psychiatry's Future (Season 4 Trailer)
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 questions, and get more of the pod, visit psychiatrybootcamp.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
4 Aug 2025 · 1 hr 23 min
Malingering and Factitious Disorder: An Approach to Clinical Deception with Dr. Nicholas Kontos
In this episode, I speak with Dr. Nicholas Kontos, Program Director of the Consultation–Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, about one of the field’s most challenging topics: malingering and factitious disorder. We discuss how to move beyond the impulse to “catch deception” and instead adopt a framework of clinical curiosity, empathy, and ethical clarity. Dr. Kontos introduces the concept of “thinking dirty”, the disciplined consideration of complex motives such as safety, shelter, or secondary gain, while preserving therapeutic respect. The conversation covers…
S3 · E13 · 28 Jul 2025 · 53 min
Functional Neurological Disorders: Modern Diagnosis & Evidence-Based Management | Dr. Caitlin Adams
Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) sits at the crossroads of neurology and psychiatry and for many clinicians, it’s still one of the most challenging diagnoses to understand, explain, and treat. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Caitlin Adams, psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, for a deep dive into how to recognize, diagnose, and manage FND using a modern, evidence-based, and patient-centered approach.We trace the evolution of the diagnosis from hysteria to conversion disorder to today’s understanding of FND and explore what neuroscience now tells us about how these…
S3 · E12 · 21 Jul 2025 · 1 hr 3 min
Perinatal Psychiatry: Risk, Ethics, and Clinical Decision-Making with Dr. Christina Wichman
Pregnancy and postpartum are times of profound change and nowhere is that complexity more visible than in psychiatry. In this episode, 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 a deep dive into reproductive psychiatry. Co-hosted by Erica Browne, an M4 at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, this conversation explores how to care for both mother and baby with empathy, evidence, and balance. We walk through distinctions…
S3 · E11 · 14 Jul 2025 · 1 hr 19 min
Assessment And Management Of Eating Disorders with Dr. Patricia Westmoreland and Dr. Anne O’Melia
Eating disorders are among the most lethal conditions in psychiatry and some of the most misunderstood. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Patricia Westmoreland and Dr. Anne O’Melia, two internationally recognized experts with eight combined board certifications spanning psychiatry, internal medicine, pediatrics, and consultation-liaison psychiatry. Together, we take a deep dive into the medical, psychiatric, ethical, and forensic complexities of eating disorders, especially as they appear in the general medical hospital. We talk through how to recognize eating disorders in patients who may…
S3 · E10 · 30 Jun 2025 · 59 min
Assessment of Decisional Capacity: Guidelines, Ethics, and Evidence with Dr. Mira Zein
In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Mira Zein, clinical associate professor at Stanford and co-author of the APA Resource Document on Decisional Capacity Determinations, to break down one of the most frequent and misunderstood consults in psychiatry.We go deep into the Appelbaum–Grisso criteria and discuss how they apply to real-world cases where the answer isn’t always clear. Dr. Zein walks us through difficult scenarios, from life-saving refusals to medically complex delirium cases, highlighting how to think, document, and communicate clearly when capacity is in question. This episode…
S3 · E9 · 23 Jun 2025 · 58 min
Transplant Psychiatry and The Psychiatrist’s Role in Organ Transplantation with Dr. Paula Zimbrean
Organ transplantation isn’t just a medical miracle, it’s a psychological marathon. In this episode, I talk with Dr. Paula Zimbrean, Yale psychiatrist and pioneer in Transplant Psychiatry, about what really happens when mind and medicine intersect at the edge of life and death. We walk through the evolution of psychiatry’s role on transplant teams, from risk gatekeeping to long-term integration, and explore what pre-transplant evaluations truly aim to uncover. Dr. Zimbrean shares how to assess risk, capacity, and motivation in patients preparing for transplant, and what it means to treat not…
S3 · E8 · 16 Jun 2025 · 1 hr 50 min
3.8 Suicide Risk Assessment
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 assessment, is one of the professional things in life that I am most proud of." WOW! That's quite the claim from one of the world's foremost psychiatrists about a podcast episode. Take a listen and see what you think! Dr. Tyler Black, a suicidologist and child psychiatrist at British Columbia Children's Hospital, walks through common suicide myths, structuring the suicide risk…
S3 · E7 · 9 Jun 2025 · 1 hr 18 min
Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia: A Clinical Guide with Dr. George Grossberg
In this episode, I talk with Dr. George Grossberg, a pioneer in geriatric psychiatry, about the neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia and what they look like, why they happen, and how to approach them with empathy and strategy. We walk through the most common behavioral disturbances in dementia, including apathy, depression, psychosis, and agitation. Dr. Grossberg shares how to think through these cases, when to reach for medication, when to hold back, and how to anchor every decision in an understanding of who the patient truly is. Takeaways: Neuropsychiatric symptoms are nearly universal…
S3 · E6 · 27 May 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
Catatonia: The Art and Urgency of Treatment with Dr. Mark Oldham
Catatonia isn’t just mysterious, it’s one of the most treatable yet misunderstood syndromes in psychiatry. In this episode, I continue my conversation with Dr. Mark Oldham, diving deep into what to actually do when you suspect catatonia. We talk through the Lorazepam challenge, what a “positive” response really means, and why sometimes a single dose can look like a miracle. We also dig into the gray zones—how to approach patients who don’t respond, when to move to ECT, and what to do when catatonia overlaps with delirium or psychosis. Dr. Oldham shares his framework for identifying special…

About Psychiatry Boot Camp

Psychiatry Boot Camp is a English learning podcast from Mark Mullen, MD. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Mark Mullen, MD
Language: English
Category: Learning
New episodes: Every two weeks
Typical length: 1 hr 4 min
Latest episode: 4 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1671902940

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