Setting the highest certification standards for psychiatrists and neurologists since 1934

Psychiatry

Deadlines, Fees and Content for Initial Certification in Psychiatry

*Application deadlines are at 11:59 p.m. CT.

Other Important Dates
Active, full, unrestricted license due to the Board or application is denied September 1, 2026
Graduation verification from training programs due to the Board for residents graduating June 30, 2026 July 15, 2026
Graduation verification from training programs due to the Board for residents graduating July 31, 2026 August 15, 2026
Psychiatry: Overview and Statement of Principles

‘Candidates’ or ‘applicants’ in the specialty of psychiatry are physicians trained in the field of psychiatry who seek ABPN Board Certification. Psychiatry is the medical specialty that involves caring for patients with mental disorders — that is, the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of conditions that affect thinking, emotions, and/or behaviors. Mental or psychiatric disorders including conditions such as: depressive or bipolar disorders; anxiety disorders; schizophrenia and related disorders; trauma- and stressor-related disorders; and substance-related and addictive disorders. To care for patients with these conditions, biologic, psychological, and social components of illnesses are explored and understood in treatment of the whole person. Tools used may include diagnostic laboratory tests, prescribed medications, evaluation and treatment of psychological and interpersonal problems with individuals and families, and psychotherapy or other interventional methods for coping with stress, crises, and other problems.

Subspecialties recognized by the ABPN that are available to board-certified psychiatrists include: addiction psychiatry; brain injury medicine; child and adolescent psychiatry; consultation-liaison psychiatry; forensic psychiatry; geriatric psychiatry; hospice and palliative medicine; pain medicine; and sleep medicine.

Initial Certification in Psychiatry

A. Training in ACGME-accredited Programs

Except as specified in section J below (“Training in Programs Not Accredited by the ACGME”), all training must be done in programs accredited by the ACGME. Training must be completed no later than September 30th in the year of the applicant’s first certification examination administration. All requirements below that specify months or years of training are based on full-time effort. The required training may be done on a part-time basis, provided that it is at no less than half-time effort; for any effort less than full-time, the length of training must be extended on a prorated basis to meet the stated requirements.

Training programs accredited by the ACGME can be found on the ACGME website at www.acgme.org. The ABPN training and leave of absence policy is located on the Policies page.

B. PGY-1 Requirements and Patterns of Training

An applicant seeking admission to examination for certification in psychiatry must have satisfactorily completed a full PGY-1 year (i.e., 12 calendar months) that meets the below requirements, and, subsequent to the PGY-1 year, three full years (i.e., 36 calendar months) of residency training in a psychiatry program accredited by the ACGME. To be clear, the PGY-1 year must be completed prior to the three further years of residency training.

Either of the following two patterns of training are acceptable:

Pattern #1: Four-year Psychiatry Residency Program
This pattern requires four years of training in an ACGME-accredited program in psychiatry. In this training pattern, the PGY-1 year must include at least four months in internal medicine, family medicine, or pediatrics. For this PGY-1 four-month requirement, the experiences must be in clinical settings that provide comprehensive and continuous patient care and predominantly involve medical evaluation and treatment rather than surgical procedures. Please note that neurology rotations may not be used to fulfill this four-month requirement.

Pattern #2: Separate PGY-1 Year followed by a Three-year Psychiatry Residency Program
In this pattern, the PGY-1 year may be done as a standalone year or as part of a residency program in another specialty. The separate PGY-1 year must consist of one of the following: (a) ACGME-accredited training in internal medicine, family medicine, or pediatrics; (b) an ACGME-accredited transitional year program that includes a minimum of four months of primary care medicine; or (c) an ACGME-accredited residency in a clinical specialty requiring comprehensive and continuous patient care.

Regarding option (c), the psychiatry training director should contact the ABPN prior to the trainee beginning psychiatry residency training to confirm whether the prior training meets the ABPN PGY-1 requirements. Contact the ABPN credentials department at credentials@abpn.org.

Also, please note that fellowship-level training, including child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship training, will not be accepted as meeting the PGY-1 requirement; no exceptions will be made in this regard.

C. 12-month Continuous Outpatient Psychiatry Requirement (including Implications for Fast-Tracking into Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship)

The ABPN requires that residents have at least 12 full calendar months of continuous outpatient psychiatry outpatient experience. No more than 20% of this experience can be with child/adolescent psychiatry patients.

Implications for Trainees ‘Fast-Tracking’ into Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) Fellowship
Please note that, for residents fast-tracking into CAP fellowships, the 12-month continuous psychiatry outpatient requirement necessarily means that only residents who fast-track into a CAP fellowship at the same institution are allowed to complete up to 20% of the continuous psychiatry outpatient requirement during the CAP fellowship. Residents who fast-track into a CAP fellowship at a different institution must complete the entire 12-month continuous outpatient requirement during their psychiatry residency prior to moving to another institution for CAP fellowship. The ABPN will not approve exceptions to this requirement for any reason.

D. Clinical Skills Evaluation Requirements

All applicants seeking certification in psychiatry must successfully complete three clinical skills evaluations (CSEs, or CSVs in psychiatry) as part of the credentialing requirements to sit for the Psychiatry Certification Examination. Visit ABPN’s Residency Training Information – Psychiatry webpage for clinical skills evaluation requirements, FAQs, and forms.

E. Blocks of Training

The three years of post-PGY-1 psychiatry residency training must be completed in no more than two blocks. If completed in two blocks, the blocks must not be more than five years apart and the shorter block must not be less than six months long. This requirement applies to residents entering the PGY-2 year of psychiatry residency training on or after July 1, 2011; for residents who entered the PGY-2 year of psychiatry residency prior to July 1, 2011, contact the ABPN for detailed guidance about the requirement for blocks of training.

F. Continuity of Training in More Than One Residency Training Program

Because continuity of training is important to optimize pedagogy, professional development, and evaluations during training, two of the three years of post-PGY-1 residency training must be spent in a single program.

To ensure adherence to this requirement, if a resident wishes to transfer between programs, the respective training directors should contact the ABPN office, in writing, prior to the transfer. The letters must outline the resident’s training content, duties, and responsibilities, including exact dates (month/day/year to month/day/year) of training, and indicate clearly that the resident will satisfy all ACGME program requirements as outlined on the ACGME website www.ACGME.org. The ABPN will respond based on the individual resident’s training rotations to date, indicating what would be needed to satisfy all training requirements including the continuity of training requirement.

The ABPN strongly encourages the training director of the first program to send the training director of the second program a letter detailing the training satisfactorily completed, including exact dates (month/day/year to month/day/year) of training, and any required training experiences that have not been completed. After reviewing this documentation, the training director of the second program should inform the resident, prior to confirming the transfer, whether or not the second program will be able to provide the resident with the experiences necessary to fulfill all required training experiences.

G. Medical Licenses 

All applicants who submit a training license with their initial application must update their information, showing that they hold an active, full, unrestricted medical license, in their ABPN Physician Portal account by September 1st in the year they wish to sit for the examination. Applicants who do not update their licensure information by this deadline will be denied sitting for the Psychiatry Certification Examination. Please note that this policy and deadline applies to all applicants, including those who graduate off-cycle (section H).

H. Off-Cycle Graduating Residents 

In order for off-cycle graduating residents to be eligible to sit for the certification examination in that year, the ABPN must receive written notification from the program director no later than July 31st that the resident will not finish training by August 30th but will finish no later than September 30th of the year of the exam administration. The program director subsequently must confirm to ABPN via the preCERT system that training has been successfully completed immediately after the resident has finished training. As well, the applicant must submit an active, full, unrestricted medical license in their ABPN Physician Portal by September 1st, as noted in section G.

Once approved, ABPN will email the applicant scheduling instructions that allows them to schedule the certification exam. Off-cycle applicants must sit for certification within three weeks of their application being approved. This may require sitting for the examination in mid to late October. Applicants are responsible for updating their email address through their ABPN Physician Portal account to ensure they receive the instructions in a timely manner. The Board will be unable to extend examination dates due to an incorrect email address on file.

ABPN will not allow a candidate to sit for the fall certification examination if training has not been completed by September 30 in the year of the certification examination. For residents that will be completing training October 1 through December 31 in the year of the certification examination, please have the program director contact our office at credentials@abpn.org for additional information.

I. Applying for Certifications in both Psychiatry and Neurology 

Candidates may apply for certification in another specialty. A candidate may have more than one application on file with the ABPN if the applications are for certification in different specialties or subspecialties. In particular, candidates completing training both in psychiatry and in either neurology or child neurology may apply to sit for examinations in both specialties. However, candidates are not eligible to apply for a subspecialty examination until after they have been certified in the applicable primary specialty (i.e., in psychiatry, neurology, or child neurology).

Unless otherwise specified in section J, all training must be completed in programs accredited by the ACGME. Please visit the ACGME Combined Programs webpage for details.

Applicants seeking certification both in psychiatry and neurology who began residency training prior to January 1, 1999, should contact the Board office regarding the requirements applicable to them.

J. Training in Programs Not Accredited by the ACGME 

Canadian Training Programs
Canadian trainees may apply for the ABPN examination if they meet the following requirements:

      1. Completed their full training in a Canadian program accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada AND
      2. Achieve certification by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada AND
      3. Possess an unrestricted license to practice medicine in a Canadian province

All requirements must be met, and documentation must be received by ABPN, no later than September 1 of the year of the applicant’s first certification examination. Please contact the Board for additional information at credentials@abpn.org.

The ABPN also recognizes PGY-1 training completed in a Canadian program accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, if (a) the training meets the PGY-1 requirements described above in section B, and (b) the trainee subsequently completes three years of psychiatry residency training in an ACGME-accredited program, meeting all other requirements described above.

The ABPN does not recognize training done in Canada other than as just described.

Other International Training
The ABPN does not directly accept training done under the auspices of other international training programs. However, internationally trained specialists may wish to review ABPN’s pilot Academic Pathway.

Training in Programs Accredited by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA)
The ABPN does not directly accept training done in program accredited by the AOA prior to the institution of the ACGME-AOA single accreditation pathway. However, specialists who completed earlier AOA-accredited training may wish to review ABPN’s pilot Academic Pathway.

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc.

7 Parkway North, Deerfield, IL 60015

Phone 847.229.6500

Fax 847.229.6600