The Department of Medical Psychology was originally the Teaching and Research Section of Medical Psychology, which was founded in 1979. It was the first such teaching and research section in the whole of China and also the first one to offer courses of medical psychology in the country. After its founding, it ever held a number of national advanced courses in medical psychology to train the backbone teachers who are now playing an active role in the teaching and research in medical psychology in medical colleges and universities across the country, which has greatly contributed to the development of medical psychology in those medical colleges and universities.
In 2019, it was officially renamed the Department of Medical Psychology, with 7 teachers, including 2 full professors, 3 associate professors and 2 lecturers. At present, it offers 6 undergraduate courses including Medical Psychology and Mental Health of College Students, and 11 postgraduate courses including Psychotherapy and Psychological Evaluation. The department started its master's program in Applied Psychology in 1996 and its doctoral program in Applied Psychology in 2004. So far, it has trained hundreds of master's and doctoral students. It has graduate internship bases in many institutions, such as the PUHSC Third Hospital of, the PUHSC Sixth Hospital and the Students’ Center for Psychological Counseling.
The department aims at carrying out systematic and in-depth research on psychosomatic diseases, mental disorders, doctor-patient psychology and other related issues, developing the theory and method of psychological intervention with clinical value, and constantly exploring basic psychophysiological mechanism in clinical research, based on the theory and technology of clinical psychology practice and the research methods and paradigms of clinical medicine and basic psychology, closely combining with the hot issues of medical psychology, taking advantages of the platform of PKU medical humanities, so as to develop new and evidence-based theory and method, and promote the development of medical psychology.
The main research fields of the department are psychosomatic medicine, clinical psychology, psychological evaluation and health psychology. In recent years, the department has undertaken a number of national and provincial major scientific research projects, involving elderly psychology, college students' mental health, social psychological service system, cancer patients' psychology, autism children's families, and occupational psychology of healthcare professionals.
The department is a member of the PKU Center for Clinical Psychology, a secretariat affiliated to the medical psychology branch of the Chinese Psychological Society, a secretariat affiliated to the medical psychology branch of the China Association of Higher Education, and a directing member of the Sexual Psychology Committee of the China Sexology Association. The department also actively carries out international academic exchanges with the University of Edinburgh, University College London, University of Michigan, Columbia University and Fuller Theological Seminary.
