Thomas Xavier, MD

This article covers two easy strategies to help increase your score for the Psychiatry Resident-In-Training Examination® (PRITE®) and increase your likelihood of passing the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) Psychiatry Board Exam. These two techniques are useful, easy to implement, and only require a little of your time. The first strategy is to read more…

“I worked half my life to be an overnight success…” Jessica Savitch He walks straight toward me with a determined look. I feel squarely on the spot as I stand in front of the conference table at AADPRT 2019. The chief resident quickly introduces himself, states, “We use your Qbank,” and pauses. It’s the moment read more…

As a psychiatrist, I enjoy teaching PA students during their Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine clinical rotation. But recently, I noticed something odd. While my students were studying for their end of rotation exam using another Qbank provided by their program, the question and explanation seemed to reflect the old diagnostic criteria from psychiatry’s handbook of diagnosis, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). That’s not necessarily odd, in and of itself. But then it happened again. And again. For example, one explanation said that ADHD diagnosis needed symptoms present prior to age 7, but that was the old criteria from DSM-IV-TR (fourth edition, text revised version of the DSM). The newest DSM-5 (fifth edition) criteria sets the threshold to before age 12 instead.