Medical Psychology

The Department of Psychiatry Teaching and Research was established in 1964, together with the psychiatric hospital that existed at the time. Chen Ying and Chen Hongdao served as the department’s first directors, and Shu Mingwei served as secretary. During the Cultural Revolution (1970), the department was dissolved. In 1974, the Department of Neuropsychiatry Teaching and Research was re-established at the Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. In 1985, it pioneered the establishment of an outpatient psychological counseling clinic in China, under the direction of Shu Mingwei. In 1997, Huang Xiaoqin took over responsibility for the Department of Psychiatry Teaching and Research and psychological counseling. In 2005, the Department of Medical Psychology was established, with Huang Xiaoqin as its director. In 2023, Cheng Geng became director of the Department of Medical Psychology and head of the Department of Psychiatry Teaching and Research; the department began developing psychological assessment, psychotherapy, and disorder-specific treatment.

The Department of Medical Psychology and the Department of Psychiatry Teaching and Research constitute one of the clinical disciplines of the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University. There are currently 6 staff members: 1 chief physician, 4 attending physicians, and 1 resident physician; 1 holds a doctoral degree in medicine and 5 hold master’s degrees in psychiatry and mental health.

The department includes the Jixi Road Outpatient Clinic, Gaoxin Outpatient Clinic, Changjiang Road Outpatient Clinic, and Southern District Outpatient Clinic. It undertakes teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate students, psychiatric and psychological outpatient services, consultations for inpatients, psychological assessment, individual and group psychotherapy, clinical research, and related activities.

Areas of Expertise

The department provides specialized psychiatric outpatient services, including the medical psychology clinic, depression specialty clinic, anxiety disorders clinic, obsessive-compulsive disorders clinic, sleep disorders clinic, early intervention clinic, geriatric mental disorders clinic, mental disorders clinic, and psychological counseling clinic. It receives difficult and complex cases of psychiatric and psychological disorders, as well as psychosomatic disorders, from throughout Anhui Province and some other provinces. It specializes in the treatment of psychological disorders in adolescents.

The department provides consultation-liaison psychiatry services and undertakes consultations for psychiatric and psychological disorders requested by all clinical departments in the hospital.

Department Achievements

The department is the birthplace of mental health services in Anhui Province. Taking into account the mental health characteristics of patients in general hospitals, it led the establishment of the Psychosomatic Medicine Branch of the Anhui Medical Association in 2006; treating the mind and body together improved the therapeutic outcomes of “difficult and complex conditions.” The department continually studies the characteristics of psychological disorders in adolescents and actively carries out psychological interventions for adolescents. It is at the regional forefront in the treatment of emotional disorders in adolescents.