Research

Dr. Reidbord received his M.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985, and completed his residency in Adult Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in 1989. He then pursued a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at UCSF in psychotherapy process research. In this time frame, he authored several peer-reviewed journal articles and other publications on psychotherapy; in particular, on the "flow state" that allows empathic connection to take place between the two participants. Several of these studies were the first ever to apply a highly technical type of data analysis called nonlinear dynamical modeling (an aspect of "chaos theory") in the setting of psychotherapy. Here are references for these papers.

In the years since, Dr. Reidbord conducted small studies at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) on psychiatric symptom improvement with outpatient treatment, on personality assessment and change with therapy, and on the doctor-patient relationship in initial interviews. He has also reviewed the research literature on the influence of pharmaceutical promotion on doctors' prescribing patterns.

Hospital Committees

Dr. Reidbord is a member of two standing committees at CPMC. As a member of the Ethics Committee, he attends a monthly meeting to discuss patient-care ethics at the hospital, and occasionally participates in ethics consultations on inpatients.

As chair of the Continuing Medical Education (CME) Committee at CPMC, Dr. Reidbord oversees all professional education at the medical center. The Committee reviews educational programs to assure compliance with state and national standards of quality, and assures freedom from commercial and other sources of bias. To maintain licensure, all physicians in California must complete 25 hours of approved CME each year.

Teaching

Dr. Reidbord has taught psychiatry to trainees for 20 years. He currently teaches two formal seminars at CPMC: a half-year weekly course in dynamic psychotherapy every year, and a two-month seminar on psychiatric ethics every other year. He also offers individual psychotherapy supervision for one or two psychiatry residents each year. "Supervision" is traditional one-on-one case based learning, a crucial step toward becoming a competent therapist.

Blogging

Since October 2008, Dr. Reidbord has shared psychiatric concepts and reflections by blogging for the general public. Reidbord's Reflections contains short essays on a variety of psychiatric topics. Sacramento Street Psychiatry is a blog on the Psychology Today website where some of the pieces on Reidbord's Reflections — ones with a more pop-psychology flavor — are reposted to a wider readership.