Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB)

About IPHB

The Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB) is a premier centre for mental health education, research and clinical care in India. Affiliated with the West Bengal University of Health Sciences, IPHB offers a blend of academic excellence, cuttingedge research, and compassionate patient services. Its mission is to advance knowledge in psychiatry, psychology and allied mentalhealth disciplines while providing evidencebased treatment to individuals and communities.

Historical Background

Established in 1972 as a department within the College of Medicine, IPHB grew out of a recognized need for specialised mentalhealth training in the region. Over the decades, it has expanded its facilities, faculty and programmes, evolving into an autonomous institute in 1998. Significant milestones include the launch of the first postgraduate psychiatric residency programme in West Bengal, the inauguration of a modern neuroimaging suite in 2005, and the creation of a community outreach network serving rural populations.

Academic Programs

IPHB offers a wide range of courses designed for students, clinicians and researchers:

• MD (Psychiatry) a threeyear residency focusing on clinical skills, psychopharmacology and psychotherapy.
• MSc Clinical Psychology twoyear programme covering assessment, therapeutic techniques and research methodology.
• Diploma in Psychiatric Nursing a oneyear course preparing nurses for mentalhealth care settings.
• Ph.D. and M.Phil. in Psychiatry & Clinical Psychology researchoriented degrees with access to stateoftheart laboratories.
• Certificate Courses shortterm modules on topics such as child and adolescent psychiatry, addiction medicine, and forensic psychiatry.

All programmes combine classroom instruction with supervised clinical rotations at IPHBs teaching hospital and affiliated community centres.

Research Excellence

The institutes research agenda is driven by the goal of improving mentalhealth outcomes locally and globally. Current research themes include:

• Neurobiological correlates of mood disorders using functional MRI and EEG.
• Communitybased interventions for suicide prevention.
• Genetic studies of schizophrenia in South Asian populations.
• Evaluation of digital mentalhealth tools in lowresource settings.
• Impact of trauma and migration on mental health.

IPHB collaborates with national agencies, international universities and nongovernmental organisations. The institute publishes regularly in peerreviewed journals and hosts an annual International Conference on Psychiatry and Human Behaviour.

Clinical Services

IPHB operates a 250bed teaching hospital that provides comprehensive mentalhealth care:

• Inpatient Psychiatry acute care for severe mood, psychotic and substancerelated disorders.
• Outpatient Clinics specialised services in child & adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, addiction, and neurorehabilitation.
• Psychotherapy Units individual, group and family therapy modalities.
• Community Mental Health Programme outreach camps, mobile clinics and schoolbased mentalhealth education.
• Diagnostic Services neuroimaging, neuropsychological testing, and laboratory investigations.

All services are delivered by multidisciplinary teams comprising psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, psychiatric social workers, nurses and occupational therapists.