--- description: An exercise called "Psy-feld" title: Med Students Now Watch 'Seinfeld' to Learn About Psychiatric Disorders image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7111dd618c02632d/698777e25f570fdc1fb147d5/138435056.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Medical Students Now Watch _Seinfeld_ to Learn About Psychiatric Disorders  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jan 2, 2015 4:09 PM CUT  From "The Junior Mint" episode, pictured: (upper left) Jerry Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer. From "The Junior Mint" episode, pictured: (upper left) Jerry Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer.Spike Nannarello/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank—Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Jan 2, 2015 4:09 PM CUT Aspiring doctors now have an excuse to binge-watch _Seinfeld._ At Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J., psychiatry professor Anthony Tobia is teaching third and fourth-year medical students in the hospital’s psychiatric rotation about psychiatric disorders through the hit TV show’s eccentric characters — an exercise dubbed [“Psy-feld,”](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25410045 "undefined") NJ.com [reports.](http://www.nj.com/education/2015/01/seinfeld%5Fcharacters%5Fteach%5Frutgers%5Fmedical%5Fstudents%5Fabout%5Fpsychiatric%5Fdiagnoses.html#incart%5Friver "undefined") The students are required to watch two repeat episodes of the show a week on TBS and come to class ready to discuss the psychopathology “demonstrated” in each one. As Tobia told [NJ.com,](http://www.nj.com/education/2015/01/seinfeld%5Fcharacters%5Fteach%5Frutgers%5Fmedical%5Fstudents%5Fabout%5Fpsychiatric%5Fdiagnoses.html#incart%5Friver "undefined") --- > “” --- It reminds us of the [_Seinfeld_ episode](http://www.tbs.com/videos/seinfeld/season-9/episode-16/the-burning.html "undefined") in which Kramer (Michael Richards) acted out the symptoms of gonorrhea so medical students could practice their diagnostic skills: And that time the klutz was watching a surgery from the observation deck and accidentally dropped a Junior Mint into the patient’s abdominal cavity: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3652039/seinfeld-psychiatric-disorders/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3652039/seinfeld-psychiatric-disorders/"},"headline":"Medical Students Now Watch Seinfeld to Learn About Psychiatric Disorders","datePublished":"2015-01-02T16:09:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:15:38.629Z","description":"An exercise called \"Psy-feld\"","url":"https://time.com/3652039/seinfeld-psychiatric-disorders/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7111dd618c02632d/698777e25f570fdc1fb147d5/138435056.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. Waxman","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7111dd618c02632d/698777e25f570fdc1fb147d5/138435056.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Seinfeld","caption":"Seinfeld","creditText":"Spike Nannarello/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3652039/seinfeld-psychiatric-disorders/","name":"Medical Students Now Watch Seinfeld to Learn About Psychiatric Disorders"}}]}] ```