NEET PG Psychiatry Syllabus

Psychiatry syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Psychiatry in NEET PG, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Introduction to Psychiatry

   2 topics

   • History of psychiatry
     • Evolution of psychiatric concepts and treatments
   • Mental health and illness
     • Definition
     • Stigma
     • Determinants of mental health
2. 2

   Psychological Assessment

   3 topics

   • Mental status examination
     • Appearance
     • Behavior
     • Speech
     • Mood
     • Affect
     • Thought content
     • Thought process
     • Cognition
     • Insight
   • Psychiatric history taking
     • Presenting complaints
     • Personal history
     • Family history
     • Medical history
     • Substance use history
     • Psychiatric treatment history
   • Psychometric assessment
     • Screening tools (PHQ-9, GAD-7, AUDIT, CAGE)
     • Standardized rating scales (HAM-D, MADRS, PANSS)
3. 3

   Psychiatric Disorders

   6 topics

   • Mood disorders
     • Major depressive disorder
     • Bipolar disorder
     • Dysthymia
     • Cyclothymia
     • Mood disorder due to a medical condition or substance
   • Anxiety disorders
     • Generalized anxiety disorder
     • Panic disorder
     • Social anxiety disorder
     • Specific phobias
     • Obsessive-compulsive disorder
   • Psychotic disorders
     • Schizophrenia
     • Schizophreniform disorder
     • Schizoaffective disorder
     • Delusional disorder
     • Brief psychotic disorder
   • Substance-related disorders
     • Alcohol use disorder
     • Opioid use disorder
     • Stimulant use disorder
     • Cannabis use disorder
     • Tobacco use disorder
   • Neurodevelopmental disorders
     • Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
     • Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
     • Intellectual disability
     • Specific learning disorders
   • Personality disorders
     • Borderline personality disorder
     • Antisocial personality disorder
     • Narcissistic personality disorder
     • Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
4. 4

   Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders

   2 topics

   • Somatoform disorders
     • Somatization disorder
     • Conversion disorder
     • Hypochondriasis
     • Somatic symptom disorder
   • Dissociative disorders
     • Dissociative amnesia
     • Dissociative fugue
     • Depersonalization/derealization disorder
     • Dissociative identity disorder
5. 5

   Eating Disorders

   3 topics

   • Anorexia nervosa
     • Clinical features
     • Medical complications
     • Nutritional rehabilitation
     • Psychotherapy
   • Bulimia nervosa
     • Clinical features
     • Medical complications
     • Cognitive-behavioral therapy
     • Pharmacotherapy
   • Binge-eating disorder
     • Clinical features
     • Medical complications
     • Psychotherapy
     • Pharmacotherapy
6. 6

   Sleep Disorders

   3 topics

   • Insomnia disorder
     • Difficulty falling asleep
     • Difficulty staying asleep
     • Non-restorative sleep
     • Sleep hygiene
     • Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia
   • Sleep-related breathing disorders
     • Obstructive sleep apnea
     • Central sleep apnea
     • Continuous positive airway pressure
     • Weight loss
   • Parasomnias
     • Nightmare disorder
     • Sleep terror disorder
     • Sleepwalking disorder
     • REM sleep behavior disorder
7. 7

   Sexual Disorders

   3 topics

   • Sexual dysfunctions
     • Erectile dysfunction
     • Premature ejaculation
     • Female sexual interest/arousal disorder
     • Genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder
   • Paraphilic disorders
     • Exhibitionism
     • Voyeurism
     • Fetishism
     • Pedophilia
     • Sexual masochism/sadism
   • Gender dysphoria
     • Incongruence between assigned gender and experienced gender
     • Clinical features
     • Psychosocial support
     • Hormone therapy
     • Gender-affirming surgery
8. 8

   Geriatric Psychiatry

   3 topics

   • Dementia
     • Alzheimer's disease
     • Vascular dementia
     • Lewy body dementia
     • Frontotemporal dementia
     • Management (cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine)
   • Delirium
     • Clinical features
     • Etiology (infection, medication, metabolic disturbances)
     • Management (identifying and treating underlying causes)
   • Late-life depression
     • Clinical features
     • Risk factors
     • Management (antidepressant medications, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy)
9. 9

   Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

   4 topics

   • Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
     • Clinical features
     • Diagnosis (DSM-5 criteria)
     • Management (stimulant medications, behavioral therapy)
   • Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
     • Core features
     • Diagnosis (DSM-5 criteria)
     • Management (behavioral interventions, social skills training)
   • Conduct disorder
     • Clinical features
     • Diagnostic criteria (DSM-5)
     • Management (parent management training, cognitive-behavioral therapy)
   • Pediatric anxiety disorders
     • Separation anxiety disorder
     • Generalized anxiety disorder
     • Social anxiety disorder
     • Management (cognitive-behavioral therapy, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)
10. 10

    Legal and Ethical Issues in Psychiatry

    3 topics

    • Mental health legislation
      • Involuntary hospitalization
      • Capacity to consent
      • Confidentiality
    • Ethical principles in psychiatry
      • Autonomy
      • Beneficence
      • Nonmaleficence
      • Justice
    • Forensic psychiatry
      • Assessment of competency
      • Criminal responsibility
      • Civil commitment

Psychiatry flashcards for NEET PG

21 of 54 cards from the Psychiatry deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. Who is regarded as the 'Father of Modern Psychiatry' for introducing humane, moral treatment by unchaining mental patients in 18th-century Paris?

   Philippe Pinel, who removed the chains of patients at the Bicetre and Salpetriere asylums and promoted moral treatment.

2. In Indian psychiatry history, which 1912 legislation governed mental asylums before being replaced, and which Acts succeeded it?

   The Indian Lunacy Act, 1912 was replaced by the Mental Health Act, 1987, which was in turn replaced by the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017.

3. How does the WHO define mental health (as more than the absence of disease)?

   A state of well-being in which an individual realizes their own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to contribute to their community.

4. What is the difference between the terms 'disease', 'illness', and 'disability' in mental health?

   Disease is the objective pathological process, illness is the subjective experience of being unwell, and disability is the resulting limitation in functioning/social roles.

5. List the major components (domains) assessed in a Mental Status Examination (MSE).

   Appearance & behaviour, speech, mood & affect, thought (form and content), perception, cognition (orientation, attention, memory), insight, and judgement.

6. In the MSE, what is the difference between 'mood' and 'affect'?

   Mood is the patient's sustained, subjectively reported emotional state; affect is the examiner's objective observation of the moment-to-moment emotional expression (e.g., blunted, flat, labile).

7. What is the difference between thought form and thought content disorders, with one example of each?

   Thought form is the way thoughts are organised/connected (e.g., loosening of associations, flight of ideas); thought content is the actual ideas held (e.g., delusions, obsessions).

8. What key elements should be elicited in a structured psychiatric history?

   Identifying data, chief complaint, history of present illness, past psychiatric and medical history, drug/treatment history, family history, personal/developmental history, premorbid personality, and substance use history.

9. What does the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) assess and what total score does it yield?

   It is a 30-point bedside screen for global cognition (orientation, registration, attention/calculation, recall, language, visuospatial); scores below ~24 suggest cognitive impairment.

10. Which psychometric scales are commonly used to rate depression severity and to measure IQ?

    Depression: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); IQ: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and Stanford-Binet.

11. What is the difference between a projective and an objective psychological test, with examples?

    Projective tests use ambiguous stimuli to reveal unconscious processes (e.g., Rorschach inkblot, TAT); objective tests use structured, scored items (e.g., MMPI, WAIS).

12. What are the DSM-5 criteria duration thresholds for a Major Depressive Episode versus a Manic Episode?

    Major depressive episode: 5+ symptoms for at least 2 weeks; manic episode: elevated/irritable mood plus 3+ (4 if irritable) symptoms for at least 1 week (or any duration if hospitalisation needed).

13. How is Bipolar I distinguished from Bipolar II disorder?

    Bipolar I requires at least one full manic episode; Bipolar II requires at least one hypomanic episode plus at least one major depressive episode, with no full mania ever.

14. What is the duration criterion that defines persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia) and cyclothymia?

    Dysthymia: depressed mood most days for at least 2 years (1 year in children/adolescents); cyclothymia: fluctuating hypomanic and depressive symptoms for at least 2 years without meeting full episode criteria.

15. What is the first-line drug class for major depressive disorder, and name the gold-standard treatment for severe/treatment-resistant depression with psychotic features?

    SSRIs are first-line; electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the gold standard for severe, treatment-resistant, or psychotic depression and high suicide risk.

16. What are the core features and time criterion of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

    Excessive, hard-to-control worry about multiple events on more days than not for at least 6 months, with symptoms like restlessness, fatigue, poor concentration, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance.

17. Differentiate a panic attack from panic disorder.

    A panic attack is a discrete surge of intense fear peaking within minutes; panic disorder is recurrent unexpected panic attacks plus at least 1 month of persistent worry about further attacks or maladaptive behaviour change.

18. What is agoraphobia and how does it relate to panic disorder?

    Agoraphobia is marked fear/avoidance of situations where escape is difficult or help unavailable (crowds, open spaces, public transport); it frequently co-occurs with panic disorder but is a separate DSM-5 diagnosis.

19. What are the first-line pharmacological and psychological treatments for most anxiety disorders?

    First-line pharmacotherapy is SSRIs/SNRIs (benzodiazepines only for short-term use); first-line psychotherapy is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), including exposure techniques.

20. State the DSM-5 'A' criterion symptoms and minimum duration for schizophrenia.

    Two or more of: delusions, hallucinations, disorganised speech, grossly disorganised/catatonic behaviour, negative symptoms (at least one must be one of the first three), with continuous signs for at least 6 months (active phase at least 1 month).

21. How are schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, and schizophrenia distinguished by duration?

    Brief psychotic disorder: at least 1 day to less than 1 month; schizophreniform: 1 to less than 6 months; schizophrenia: at least 6 months.

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