Psychiatry

Patient Services & Education in Psychiatry

Our department started as a small department that has now evolved and is providing cutting edge care in the area of mental health to the Permian Basin. In the span of 4-year, department of psychiatry has increased the number of training residents from four to the current strength of 16. We have also recently started a child and adolescent fellowship program to accommodate the ever-increasing need to address the mental health in this group of population which needs a lot of attention. To accommodate the increasing number of patients that the department serves, we have enlarged our infrastructure to match the demand.

Our department offers patient services to departments of Internal Medicine and Family Medicine and the Department of Pediatrics. The faculty provides a diverse array of services in a caring, confidential, and collegial environment, with special expertise in the areas of cognitive and behavioral therapy, and psychological diagnostic assessments in adults. Patients are also referred to us by other physicians practicing in the areas of surgery, long-term care, rehabilitation, ICU, and obstetrics and gynecology.

The Department of Psychiatry also places heavy emphasis on education. A functional and dynamic curriculum prepares students with the knowledge, skills, behaviors, and attitudes necessary to effectively provide medical care to the increasingly diverse patient populations.

The Department of Psychiatry supports the residency training programs in other academic departments by providing training and experience in the recognition and management of psychological distress and psychiatric illness. The partnership between the practices of the public sector and academic psychiatry allows an excellent training experience for residents and supports the delivery of evidence-based clinical practices for the care and well-being of persons with serious and persistent mental illness.

Our residents and fellows rotate alongside some of the most talented, dedicated, enthusiastic, and highly regarded professionals in the Permian Basin and across Texas. The residents receive a closely supervised, hands-on experience with patients with various psychiatric disorders. The department remains up-to-date with the recent advancement in the area management of mental illness. We provide electroconvulsive therapy for resistant depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and catatonia. The department also provides intravenous ketamine therapy and newly FDA approved intranasal esketamine for refractory depression. The department strives to serve the Permian basin with the latest, cutting edge, safe and affordable mental health care.

Working in a predominantly underserved area, we encourage our residents to plant their roots in West-Texas. A great number of our graduates have opened their own practices in the Permian Basin. Others have continued their education through one of our 4 fellowships. Some have even become teaching faculty with Texas Tech. If you enjoy a friendly teaching environment in a community with all the amenities of a big city but the hospitality of a small town, then Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at the Permian Basin is the place for you!

Chair's Message

Welcome to the Department of Psychiatry. Currently, the department is in an unprecedented growth trajectory. Its new home, a state-of-the-art, 200-bed Psychiatry hospital, the Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center (PBBHC) is scheduled to open in April of 2026. The hospital will be a major psychiatric care, teaching and research facility in the region. It will offer comprehensive behavioral health services, including the acute inpatient and outpatient care for children, adolescent, adult, and geriatric population. It will also have a psychiatric Emergency Department and will be equipped with interventional psychiatric tools like Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Additionally, the facility will provide esketamine treatment. It will have a 42-bed forensic unit for individuals in the criminal justice system requiring mental health evaluations and treatment. READ MORE

Rajendra Badgaiyan, MD, MBA

Chairman

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Future Look

The new Permian Basin Behavioral Health Center will incorporate the latest evidence-based design features in an attractive, welcoming therapeutic environment. The structural steel installation is on the agenda to be completed by February 2025, with the entire project expected to be finalised and ready for occupancy by early 2026.

Key features will include: Multiple outdoor spaces and natural light to connect people in the facility with the environment, including a natural playa on the site. Facility and landscape design features that respect and enhance the natural environment, including drought-tolerant plants and extensive rainwater capture capability.

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