I am extraordinarily lucky that Dr Paul St-John Smith, recently retired from psychiatry in the UK, has been providing me with personal one-to-one tutorials of the lectures he gave in psychiatry training in the UK over the last fifteen years.
We have covered many topics, both general and on specific disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, anxiety, dual diagnosis; types of study, evidence based medicine, randomised controlled trials, psychopharmacology, diagnosis, mental state examination and history taking, placebos.
Paul's presentations were thorough, and I appreciate him taking the time and answering my questions patiently throughout. Without other formal training in psychiatry myself, it was truly invaluable to be able to spend one morning a week over several months being taught as the RCPsych trainees are taught, but in one-to-one sessions rather than a crammed lecture hall!
Thanks to Paul for broadening my education and being so supportive of my career.