Historical Overview


After its founding in 1811, the first mission of the Massachusetts General Hospital was to offer clinical services to the mentally ill. From its beginning, the psychiatric Asylum of the MGH, later renamed the McLean Asylum, offered world-renowned residential care.

Since 1811, McLean and The General Hospital have shared faculty, trainees, and collaborative research endeavors. Today, MGH/McLean residency programs in Adult Psychiatry and in Child Psychiatry enjoy the extensive resources of both.

Between its two complementary campuses, MGH/McLean Psychiatry delivers training opportunities unsurpassed anywhere in the world.

World leaders provide supervision of trainees in General Psychiatry and its sub-specialty fields. Founded on medical, biological and psychodynamic principles and knowledge, the treatment delivered at The General Hospital and McLean has consistently been rated "The Best" by patients, peer review, accreditation organizations and the media.

Our patients come from Boston, its suburbs, New England and around the world. Here, the psychiatric resident will learn to treat patients from diverse cultural, economic, ethnic and racial communities.

Access and opportunity are the hallmarks of our training program. Every clinical service and research group eagerly welcomes residents to participate. Core rotations are provided and each trainee can select among a vast reservoir of experiences during each year of the program.

While our services and facilities are second to none, people make clinical and academic centers and training programs great. MGH/McLean Psychiatry brings to residents a "dream team" faculty who are leaders in their field, exceptionally diverse patients from whom to learn, and stellar colleague-trainees. We welcome your interest in being part of this community.

Exciting Times
Best of the old and new psychiatry

As never before, Psychiatry's fundamental destiny on the frontier of mind and body are being realized. The techniques and technology of neuroscience research are yielding insights and producing new theoretical models at a pace that would have been unimaginable only a decade ago. As physicians, it is our duty to integrate this newfound knowledge into the care we give our patients, and to join the products of scientific discovery with our task of relieving the ancient scourge of mental illness.

At MGH/McLean, from our lab benches to our outpatient clinics, we are major players on every stage of an unfolding drama. While we are busy as clinicians and researchers, our crucial role as a faculty is unmistakable. Having trained so many of the leaders of American Psychiatry through this 20th century, we continue to revisit, revise, and retool our program to best prepare psychiatrists to take their place in the new century.

Evolution
Progress, Change

As physicians venturing into the field of Psychiatry, our residents embark not only on a personal journey but do so as part of a broad-based community evolving through interesting times. Social and economic forces promote change in health-care delivery. Fabulous scientific discoveries offer new promise for understanding and treating patients with psychiatric disorders. As it always has, our program maintains a vibrant tradition of integrating new developments into Psychiatry's historic and human roots.

While our residents have never described their training years as leisurely, none emerge from that training off the pace in our field. More commonly, our graduates set the pace.

It is our very good fortune to work, support and encourage residents as they acquire the skills necessary to become psychiatrists of the new millennium.


TimeLine