Personality and medicine

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Toffey

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Hello all,

This is something i've been thinking about for a while now. Most of the pre-meds in my school are the bubbly outgoing type. They have a "passion for people", have leadership roles in all the right organizations,and excel at the softer sciences, like bio and and psych and stuff.

I'm a lot more introverted, I prefer a lot time alone, which to be honest, hinders my ability to be involved in a lot of things outside of school. I got A's both semesters of calc-based physics, and do better in stuff like calc and Pchem than in bio and ochem. I was wondering if I have the social energy or mindset to be a doc. I love problem solving and critical thinking, so diagnosing patients and having an algorithm of care is what i enjoy about medicine.

Are there a lot of people like me in medicine? I often feel like I'm not as good as the extroverted people who are networking pros, and loved by all the profs for their outgoing and pleasant nature.

Sorry for the stereotypes, this is just what I have encountered in my experience.

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You sound shy and that's normal.
 
You are an introvert like me so yes you do exist. There are all types in all fields (OK, maybe less introverts in business and less extroverts in theoretical physics) but the extroverts will always be the loudest. I think you will be fine. If you want to do it and know why then no one can tell you you shouldn't. You should develop the basic skills needed to effectively communicate with a team and others, however. It can be draining but I don't think anyone expects you to run for office or anything.
 
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Hello all,

This is something i've been thinking about for a while now. Most of the pre-meds in my school are the bubbly outgoing type. They have a "passion for people", have leadership roles in all the right organizations,and excel at the softer sciences, like bio and and psych and stuff.

I'm a lot more introverted, I prefer a lot time alone, which to be honest, hinders my ability to be involved in a lot of things outside of school. I got A's both semesters of calc-based physics, and do better in stuff like calc and Pchem than in bio and ochem. I was wondering if I have the social energy or mindset to be a doc. I love problem solving and critical thinking, so diagnosing patients and having an algorithm of care is what i enjoy about medicine.

Are there a lot of people like me in medicine? I often feel like I'm not as good as the extroverted people who are networking pros, and loved by all the profs for their outgoing and pleasant nature.

Sorry for the stereotypes, this is just what I have encountered in my experience.
Are you sure you're actually introverted rather than just shy or antisocial?

Have you shadowed a private practice doc for a full day? How about a doc in academic medicine?

There are all sorts of people in all sorts of specialties. If you're truely an introvert, you might find a better fit in a career where you see fewer people/day, or people/week (dedicating the remaining time to research or other non-clinical activities).
You might find a good fit in fields where the relationships with patients are deeper, longer, or more emotional (ie cancer, physiatry, primary care), or where the specialty naturally balances patient-time with focused, quiet (almost) alone time over the week (proceduralists, surgeons).
 
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Are you sure you're actually introverted rather than just shy or antisocial?

Have you shadowed a private practice doc for a full day? How about a doc in academic medicine?

There are all sorts of people in all sorts of specialties. If you're truely an introvert, you might find a better fit in a career where you see fewer people/day, or people/week (dedicating the remaining time to research or other non-clinical activities).
You might find a good fit in fields where the relationships with patients are deeper, longer, or more emotional (ie cancer, physiatry, primary care), or where the specialty naturally balances patient-time with focused, quiet (almost) alone time over the week (proceduralists, surgeons).

I kind of equate shy/antisocial with introvert. I am an INTJ if that helps :p

I haven't shadowed a ton of different docs, though I do have some clinical experience in the ER working with docs. That will change though in the next few months :)

Thanks for the suggestions. I am actually very interested in primary care.
 
My MBT is INTJ--about 70/30 I/E. I find that I may not be the best at socializing in informal contexts. However, I do very well in interactions during which the roles are defined--teacher and student, clinical researcher and patient, etc. I believe many areas of medicine suit this interaction pattern quite well. Just food for thought. . .

Some of the premeds I meet dwell far on the social end of the spectrum, and maybe too far so. I think to be very successful in medicine, there has to be at least a part of a person that is reflective, internal, and thinks before it speaks and acts, these being typified hallmarks of introverted function.

Introverts make great team members and leaders. As stated by others, shyness and introversion may be correlated but certainly are not the same.
 
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I kind of equate shy/antisocial with introvert. I am an INTJ if that helps :p

I haven't shadowed a ton of different docs, though I do have some clinical experience in the ER working with docs. That will change though in the next few months :)

Thanks for the suggestions. I am actually very interested in primary care.
I doubt you're actually antisocial since you want to be a doctor (antisocial actually describes someone who violates or doesn't care about social rules and it also tends to involve hurting people, not someone who doesn't like social interaction - that would probably be considered asociality). In my opinion, you just sound like a typical introvert - you may also have a bit of social anxiety. I'm INTJ as well and apparently that's a pretty common type around here (there was a similar thread made about this recently).

There are plenty of introverted doctors who are successful. I would imagine that we're more likely to be found in certain specialties though (I can't imagine a lot of introverts being in emergency, for example). Personally, I think that's one key to becoming a successful doctor - finding what you love and are good at.
 
Are you self-confident? Can you look in the mirror and smile? You may need to build more confidence.
 
It's completely okay to be an introvert in medicine. That being said, medicine, by and large, is a field that requires interactions with people. You don't have to be everyone's best friend, but you absolutely have to be able to talk with someone and be able to build a positive rapport. Even if you end up in a field with minimal/no patient contact, you'll still have to get through medical school, which will require a great deal of human interaction through the clerkship years. Try putting yourself out of your comfort zone every once and awhile.
 
I have shy students, outgoing students, loud students, quiet students, sad students and happy students.

In short, there's plenty of room for people like you in Medicine.

Hello all,

This is something i've been thinking about for a while now. Most of the pre-meds in my school are the bubbly outgoing type. They have a "passion for people", have leadership roles in all the right organizations,and excel at the softer sciences, like bio and and psych and stuff.

I'm a lot more introverted, I prefer a lot time alone, which to be honest, hinders my ability to be involved in a lot of things outside of school. I got A's both semesters of calc-based physics, and do better in stuff like calc and Pchem than in bio and ochem. I was wondering if I have the social energy or mindset to be a doc. I love problem solving and critical thinking, so diagnosing patients and having an algorithm of care is what i enjoy about medicine.

Are there a lot of people like me in medicine? I often feel like I'm not as good as the extroverted people who are networking pros, and loved by all the profs for their outgoing and pleasant nature.

Sorry for the stereotypes, this is just what I have encountered in my experience.
 
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I just have to say that as a patient, I've had very good experiences with doctors who were very obviously introverted or shy. Introverted people often (not always, but often) have better listening skills, which is obviously important for doctors. On the other hand, I have an extremely extroverted doctor who is just awful, she talks nonstop during our appointments, which makes it really difficult to explain my issues. That's just been my experience though, and I've definitely had plenty of great, extrovert doctors as well!
 
I think its kinda interesting how everyone is diagnosing Toffey like they're experts or something. Maybe, just maybe, it could be helpful for the guy to seek his own answers through self-reflection and working with a therapist?

Dad's a psychiatrist and mom's a therapist and they both taught me to jus listen when it comes to people who need to talk about something and never to give out advice unless I have credentials to back it up.
 
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I think its kinda interesting how everyone is diagnosing Toffey like they're experts or something. Maybe, just maybe, it could be helpful for the guy to seek his own answers through self-reflection and working with a therapist?

Dad's a psychiatrist and mom's a therapist and they both taught me to jus listen when it comes to people who need to talk about something and never to give out advice unless I have credentials to back it up.
I get what you're saying, but I'm not sure how telling someone they're an introvert (especially when the person has already said this anyway) or suggesting they look into something - especially if you have experience with it and can notice the symptoms in someone else - is exactly "diagnosing." So no, "everyone" is not diagnosing. We're trying to help and sometimes suggesting something to look into can be helpful in these types of situations (and obviously, if the OP thinks they really have a serious problem worth looking into, they would go to a therapist). You have no idea what our "credentials" are. We may not be experts, but you have no idea about what experience we have with these types of things. I would have hoped a psychiatrist and a therapist would have taught you not to judge people, because that's exactly what you're doing. I'm assuming you did not mean it that way, but that's certainly how it came across to me.
 
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Hello all,

This is something i've been thinking about for a while now. Most of the pre-meds in my school are the bubbly outgoing type. They have a "passion for people", have leadership roles in all the right organizations,and excel at the softer sciences, like bio and and psych and stuff.

I'm a lot more introverted, I prefer a lot time alone, which to be honest, hinders my ability to be involved in a lot of things outside of school. I got A's both semesters of calc-based physics, and do better in stuff like calc and Pchem than in bio and ochem. I was wondering if I have the social energy or mindset to be a doc. I love problem solving and critical thinking, so diagnosing patients and having an algorithm of care is what i enjoy about medicine.

Are there a lot of people like me in medicine? I often feel like I'm not as good as the extroverted people who are networking pros, and loved by all the profs for their outgoing and pleasant nature.

Sorry for the stereotypes, this is just what I have encountered in my experience.

Yes, you'll be great as a doctor. The hardest part will be dealing with the type A's in the profession that have undoubtedly already showered you with advice.
 
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I remember being in the same position as yourself in pre-med. I tested as Myers-Briggs ISTP when I first took the test in college. I remember feeling like a fool in my college classes because others would be able to be the first ones to provide answers to questions, whereas I did much better writing essays since I had the time to pause and reflect. I have to take extra time to prepare presentations and recite them to myself, and I usually spend lots of time obsessing over the possible questions that I could be asked by the audience, and trying to have an answer pre-thought out beforehand. There are many within the medical field who could be classified as introverted with regards to how they process information from their environment. I've found them to be more concentrated in internal medicine fields, pathology, radiology.

I ended up falling in love with Surgery, and while one would assume that surgeons would be as a whole an "E" dominant crowd, there are plenty of surgeons I know that are classic introverts as well. My work in general is nearly all elective work and very little trauma work. Let me tell you, outside of crash laparotomies for trauma, the elective OR setting is a paradise for an introverted type. Its quiet, and aside from your scrub and assist - is about as much solitary alone time that you can get. A long day of 15 patients in a half day of clinic can be physically and emotionally draining, but a 2-3 hour long Lap Colon case is where I recharge the battery, as well as playing music, and the ever more rare online game of COD or BF4.
 
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I'm close to your MBTI type, @Putrescine. I'm an ISFP instead of an ISTP.

I find myself drawn to Pediatrics now, but I know that it can change. Something about kids (for the most part, not the ones that screech like banshees or are incredibly rude) warms my heart. :D

I'm sure there are some correlations of MBTI type/disposition and specialties.
 
I think you'll find, as has been stated above by @Styrene, that professional social interaction is much easier as an introvert than regular social interaction. Try some hospice or ER volunteering where you get to talk to patients and professionals and you'll see what I mean. For the record, I'm 70/30 I/E and have had no problem at all with social interaction during my volunteering or teaching roles and I never felt socially uncomfortable at an interview (both talking to other interviewees and to my interviewer).
 
They have a "passion for people", have leadership roles in all the right organizations,and excel at the softer sciences, like bio and and psych and stuff.

Nah, those are just the ones you see because they are the loudest. There are lots of quiet physicians, although some specialties tend to attract more extroverted people than others.
 
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I'm a lot more introverted, I prefer a lot time alone, which to be honest, hinders my ability to be involved in a lot of things outside of school. I got A's both semesters of calc-based physics, and do better in stuff like calc and Pchem than in bio and ochem. I was wondering if I have the social energy or mindset to be a doc. I love problem solving and critical thinking, so diagnosing patients and having an algorithm of care is what i enjoy about medicine.

Are there a lot of people like me in medicine?

I think you'll find a lot of introverts in medicine... Most of my mentors have been introverts, as well as many doctors I've interacted with as a patient. I second @Lannister regarding having had more positive experiences as a patient with introverted doctors than extroverted ones.

Personally, I'm an INFJ. I'm not a big fan of social events/parties, but I love having one-on-one, meaningful discussions. From my experiences, I suspect that I will feel energized by working with patients, rather than drained. But there are specialties for every degree of patient interaction desired, from path to psych.

Also, I highly recommend the book "Quiet: The Power of Introverts" by Susan Cain. Incredible insight into the minds of introverts, and great advice on how to harness your strengths without wearing yourself out.
 
Thank you all for your input! I'm on my phone now, so I can't reply to individual people, but I appreciate all the replies.
I don't think I have an actual mental problem or anxiety or anything. I like myself and I have close relationships with the few people I let in, and I'm happy with that.

I'm glad to see that introverted med students and doctors are equally valued:rolleyes:
 
I think its kinda interesting how everyone is diagnosing Toffey like they're experts or something. Maybe, just maybe, it could be helpful for the guy to seek his own answers through self-reflection and working with a therapist?

Dad's a psychiatrist and mom's a therapist and they both taught me to jus listen when it comes to people who need to talk about something and never to give out advice unless I have credentials to back it up.

I think we can all give advice as just a human to a fellow human. Forums wouldn't be much good if we just listened..:p
Thank you for your comment though, it's def something I have been reflecting on myself.
 
Thank you all for your input! I'm on my phone now, so I can't reply to individual people, but I appreciate all the replies.
I don't think I have an actual mental problem or anxiety or anything. I like myself and I have close relationships with the few people I let in, and I'm happy with that.

I'm glad to see that introverted med students and doctors are equally valued:rolleyes:
Then I think you'll do just fine in medicine. :)
 
Worst case scenario there's always ME/pathology.
 
There are plenty of people like you in medicine. Being introverted isn't a deal breaker. The reality is that most med students - even the extroverts - are "weird" in one way or another. The most important thing is that you can work effectively with your peers and colleagues and that you can interact with patients and make them feel comfortable. As long as you can do those things, you'll be fine. You don't have to be a social butterfly in order to get into medical school or be an effective physician.
 
Worst case scenario there's always ME/pathology.

Medical examiners need to be able to give public talks during court cases. Every doctor will need to interact with others. You don't need to be a social butterfly, but you certainly need to be able to communicate with others.
 
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Medical examiners need to be able to give public talks during court cases. Every doctor will need to interact with others. You don't need to be a social butterfly, but you certainly need to be able to communicate with others.

How about one of those radiologists that work from home?

"cannot exclude [x]. Correlate clinically."
 
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