Biography
Dr. Dunklee completed a BA at Macalester College. He worked for several years in molecular biology bench research before attending medical school and completing his MD at the University of Hawaii?s John A. Burns School of Medicine. He came to New Mexico for UNM?s residency training in psychiatry in 2012. Dr. Dunklee completed residency with the UNM department of psychiatry in 2016 and joined the faculty shortly thereafter. He obtained board certification from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in September of 2016.
Personal Statement
Early in residency training Dr. Dunklee became engaged in the treatment of patients with mood disorders, and the especially compelling problem of treatment resistant depression (TRD). According to the World Health Organization, depression affects approximately 5% of all adults. Affected persons suffer difficulties in all aspects of life, including performance at school, productivity at work, relationships with family, friends and community. Researchers have commonly estimated productivity losses of roughly one trillion US dollars every year due to depression and anxiety. These patients are at increased risk of myriad other negative health outcomes including cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, respiratory disease, chronic pain, and suicide.
Considering the high prevalence and societal impacts of depressive disorders, it is quite troubling that our medical treatments have relatively poor response rates. Our most robust data sets suggest that an initial antidepressant trial has only 40 to 50% chance of response, and subsequent treatment trials have diminishing rate of response. Psychotherapy has similar response rates. Even our most aggressive treatment, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), while providing improved response rates (>70%) continues to have problems with durability, with 40-50% of successfully treated patient relapsing within 12 months.
Dr. Dunklee embraces the challenge of treatment resistant depression in his clinical work and teaching. He routinely offers patients aggressive biological treatments alongside personalized psychological assessment, talk-therapy interventions, and deeply compassionate moral support. He is ever mindful of the hopelessness that can develop through years of failed treatment trials and suffering with depression. He strives to bring his patients and learners new techniques, treatments, and approaches for rekindling hope and improving quality of life.
Areas of Specialty
Adult outpatient psychiatry
Treatment of difficult-to-treat mood disorders: depression, anxiety, trauma, bipolar
Treatment of borderline personality disorder
Interventional psychiatry: Electroconvulsive therapy, intranasal esketamine
Psychodynamic psychotherapy: practice and training in ISTDP, GPM, Mentalization, Motivational interviewing
Courses Taught
Psychodynamic Theory and Techniques Seminar - This weekly seminar is currently given to psychiatric residents over 9 months of the PGY3 year. Dr. Dunklee introduces an overview of numerous important psychological theories, and then dives into techniques for applying these theories to the challenge of healing patients through talk therapy. This seminar is ever evolving to suit goals of the particular class and better prepare residents for future practice. This psychodynamic focus has earned UNM?s psychiatric residency a national reputation and continues to be a draw for exceptional medical students who are looking for a strong psychotherapy training component in their residency match. Dr. Dunklee draws on experience with a variety of semi-structured therapies and utilizes discussion formats, video reviews, role-play and improvisation to enhance clinical relevance. Dr. Dunklee has obtained training in various psychodynamic schools of thought including Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy (ISTDP) and Good Psychiatric Management for Borderline Personality Disorder (GPM).
Dr. Dunklee has also provided clinical mentorship through a wide variety of our outpatient psychiatric clinics. These include START clinic, which is a mandatory rotation for all residents through general adult outpatient psychiatry. He has also developed a unique elective didactic for treatment-resistant depression called the TRAD clinic (Treatment Resistant Affective Disorders). This elective rotation offers interested learners the opportunity to shadow Dr. Dunklee through intensive and often multi-disciplinary treatment of patients with difficult-to-treat depression. Through this clinic Dr. Dunklee and his trainees offer a unique resource, providing treatments to patients and consultation to outside providers. This level of treatment is often difficult to find not only in the state of New Mexico, but in the broader Southwest region of the USA.