Bridging Mind and Brain: Incorporating Neuropsychiatry into Psychiatric Training

Psychiatry and neurology have traditionally been taught separately in medical training, and there is no formal educational pathway in place to integrate them (Baker, Kale, & Menken, 2002; Molina-Ruiz et al., 2024). The American Psychiatric Association (2025) defines psychiatry as the medical specialty focused on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders. Conversely, neurology focuses on ailments affecting the nervous system, including the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves (Barrow Neurological Institute, 2023). This divide has prompted discussions in global healthcare sciences, academia, and societal and cultural spheres since the turn of the twentieth century (Baker et al., 2002). Nonetheless, the conventional dichotomy separating mental processes from brain anatomy and function has been challenged by developments in the neurosciences, social theories, and philosophy of mind positing a plausible interaction between psychiatric and neurological disorders (Kandel, 1998; Baker et al., 2002).