Great figures in psychiatry

[l0st1]

Who are some inspirational figures in the field that have been a source of motivation or been role models for you?

I have had some trouble finding ones that might inspire someone to pursue psychiatry as a career. Not necessarily Freud-level personalities, but anyone currently in practice? Retired? An author? A researcher? A TV personality (fictional or non-fictional)?

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[Leo Aquarius]

When I saw "great figures" in the topic my first two thoughts were 1) $300,000 or higher incomes, followed by 2) doctors with great bodies. I can't explain the second automatic thought too well.

 

[Psych56]

Dr Irvin Yalom. He's a great writer and an inspiration.

Just finished The Day the Voices Stopped by Ken Steele. Memoir of a man with schizophrenia who was a huge advocate for those with mental illness.

Dr Scot Bay. I enjoy his podcasts - "Psychiatry Today"

 

[st2205]

Leo Marvin and Charles Krauthammer.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

When I saw "great figures" in the topic my first two thoughts were 1) $300,000 or higher incomes, followed by 2) doctors with great bodies. I can't explain the second automatic thought too well.

Evolutionary Programming.
The only explanation you need.

 

[birchswing]

Leo Marvin and Charles Krauthammer.

I am always quoting What About Bob. I read into things so much that I totally identify with Bill Murray rationalizing the "death therapy" treatment. One of the best movies ever—I love the actress who plays Fay.

I knew the name Charles Krauthammer, and he was who I thought. Didn't realize he was a doctor, as well. Is he actually good? I don't have cable so I have only seen him occasionally. He seems less ridiculous than most TV pundits.

 

[Mad Jack]

When I saw "great figures" in the topic my first two thoughts were 1) $300,000 or higher incomes, followed by 2) doctors with great bodies. I can't explain the second automatic thought too well.

I thought literally the exact same things in the same order.

 

[touchpause13]

When I saw "great figures" in the topic my first two thoughts were 1) $300,000 or higher incomes, followed by 2) doctors with great bodies. I can't explain the second automatic thought too well.

If it makes you feel better I had the exact same reaction

 

[lymphocyte]

I knew the name Charles Krauthammer, and he was who I thought. Didn't realize he was a doctor, as well. Is he actually good? I don't have cable so I have only seen him occasionally. He seems less ridiculous than most TV pundits.

Krauthhammer is an interesting guy. Broke his neck as a MS1 at Harvard. Persisted despite being quadraplegic. Did his psych residency at MGH. Wrote the first paper to conceptualize secondary mania. Cited over 500 times. Quit psychiatry less than a year out of residency to become a political commentator. Ended up winning a Pulitzer. Pretty cool.

 

[Zenman1]

The great shaman Milton Erickson....

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

How about all of those wonderful depictions of psychiatrists in the movies? Hannibal Lecter, or how about Doctor Robert Elliott played by Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill with Angie Dickinson. Spoiler alert: he ends up being a cross dressing slasher. Those are really good PR for us.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

How about all of those wonderful depictions of psychiatrists in the movies? Hannibal Lecter, or how about Doctor Robert Elliott played by Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill with Angie Dickinson. Spoiler alert: he ends up being a cross dressing slasher. Those are really good PR for us.

Reminds me of the quote in Psychiatry News back in the 90s (when Basic Instinct and Prince of Tides were current movies): "According to Hollywood, bad psychiatrists sleep with their patients then kill them; whereas good psychiatrists just sleep with their patients."

 

[shojimoji]

i also thought about money before clicking open thread

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Oh yes the 90s. Hollywood had it all wrong. Psychiatrists of the 90s didn’t sleep with their patients, they were too busy being pharma ******.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

To come back to the OP, I think that if you're looking for validation in the mass media--whether fictional or non-fictional psychiatry--you're looking in the wrong place.
There was no one inspirational psychiatrist for me, but a number of physicians who prodded me in the right direction at the right time, usually with a word or two: a researcher who got through to me the fact that the brain IS indeed involved in psychiatry for example, a med school interviewer who looked at my personal statement and said I should be considering psych, the attendings who just by doing what they did and who appeared to be enjoying it...
And then the patients: seeing depressed & suicidal people get better (and actually express gratitude to me for the small part a 3rd year medical student played in that), enjoying interactions with manic, psychotic, and chemically dependent patients... Sometimes you just know that this is where you belong.

 

[shojimoji]

i truly wish hollywood would get facts correct when they confuse clincial psychologist and psychiatrist.

 

[touchpause13]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PsychoPsychologist

 

[HarryMTieboutMD]

Dr. Danny Weinberger and Dr. Mark Gold.

 

[Ibid]

To be honest given the promise of the thread title this thread has been a huge disappointment so far..... I wasn't hoping for out and out pornography but this is pathetic....imo

 

[l0st1]

I will add Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the NIMH to the list.

Nice article about him:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/science/blazing-trails-in-brain-science.html