Training in psychosomatic medicine: A psychiatric subspecialty recognized in the United States by the American Board of Medical Specialties

Psychosomatic Medicine (PM) is a subspecialty of Psychiatry approved by the American College of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) in 2003. Since its approval, subspecialty training programs in PM have been created in the United States. Training programs are designed to educate trainees in the psychiatric care of the complex medically ill, and are centered around development of certain core competencies by trainees. Completion of an ACGME-accredited training program in PM allows the graduate to sit for the PM subspecialty board examination. Development of centers with academic PM programs will lead to an increase in the depth of knowledge about the care of the complex medically ill with psychiatric comorbidities, and may thus lead to improved medical outcomes for this population. There are also individual benefits to subspecialty training in PM. In addition, there are barriers to extended postgraduate training that may require systems-level interventions to overcome.