Psychiatry or Radiology?

[pokebab]

I'm going through my internship in one of the Europian country and having a hard time choosing what line of career I'll go after internship.

I have narrowed down my options to two : Psychiatry or Radiology.

Many would think that these are two very different fields of medicine(Psychiatry has a lot of doctor-patient interactions while Radiology not..etc etc) but I have my little reasons for contemplating over these two :

Somtimes in the future, I want to do research about the brain.

I was very deeply inspired by Eric Kandel, who is a psychiatrist and a Nobel laureate who discovered the basic mechanisms of memory storage. I'm wishing to do my own line of research someday considering the mechanisms of human brain, and I'm wondering which path would be better for me : Psychiatry? or Radiology?

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[liquidshadow22]

• if u like working with people and think mental illness more specifically is fascinating pick psych. If you like ONLY READING IMAGES , and/or want the possibility of doing interventional neurorads, pick neuroradiology. But you have to learn how to read images of the entire body (not just the brain) in order to become a radiologist. Moreover, you will be diagnosing tumors, cerebrovascular disease, M.S. etc (neurological illness, not psychiatric illness).

 

[hamstergang]

Have you done any rotations in either field? If so, what did and didn't you like about each? Without your thoughts, we can't help much as we don't know you.

 

[Mad Jack]

For cognitive and neurological research psych or neurology would set you up better than radiology.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Geez, it is almost like you are deciding to vacation in a Pigmy village and sleep in the rain forest, or cut blocks of ice and build an igloo with the Eskimos. Radiology and psychiatry are so far apart, it is hard to know how to direct you. Clearly, you have to have different reasons to be attracted to one or the other. Without that data, or some hint as to your value system in liking or disliking these two fields, a psychiatry blog will just tell you to go psych.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Both fields attempt to survey the brain non-invasively...


(My retort to a rads attending when I voiced the same dual interest.
Nevertheless, though I love anatomy and images, there was just too danged much Path in Rads. And I like people too much.)

 

[pokebab]

I realize my entry was short of information.

I had never even considered rads during medschool. It was for many reasons - the popularity of rads was in its peak and my grades weren't good enough, my personality is far from keenness so I wasn't very sure I'd do well as a diagnostic radiologist etc etc.

I was previously planning to take a break after internship because the intern year was a hell for me. Endless nightshifts and being short of sleep and scrubbing in on emergency ops, endlessly applying dressings on seemingly endless number of patients every other day... I felt very burnt out.

But then I spent one month in Radiology. I was mainly in angio room assisting in interventions. I think the residents and professors took good opinion on me during the month, and they said, "If you are even slightly interested in radiology, then maybe you should apply!"

At that point I was both flattered and optimistic about the whole thing. I had alreadly ruled out on surgery or IM for the long work hours and the sick IM patients, I decided I couldn't stand. Radiology was definitely a better choice - the shorter work hours, office-like settings and not having to deal with patients.

I started picturing myself as a radiologist - it was nice at first but my worries grew. Wouldn't work be too tedious?

Psych, I liked from my student years but hadn't given it a deeper thought. I guess during medschool, I was fascinated by all the 'organic' causes of diseases, and psych was really cool but far from anything clear.

I'm still deeply torn between the two.

My first question - which route would be better for research and academics? I had thought naively that I could choose to do neuroradiology and do research about the human mind as a neurorad...is it really possible? If not, is psychiatry a better place to do such research?

Second question for psychiatrists - dealing with psych patients, does residents get burnt out a lot? This is actually my biggest curiosity and worry. Is my fascination towards the human mind alone enough to choose psych? Some of my friends say go radiology for there wouldn't be any stress considering patients, some say go psych for it seems like more fun to them.

As for patients - I hated patients during my IM round in intern year, but as I look back I think I hated the work load not the patients specifically. I think I'm really very normal type of person - I hate seeing tons of patients and choking under the work load, but I don't think patients in general. I've seen many psych applicants say "I like people". I sometimes like people and sometimes hate them. So now I'm scared if I'll miss the patient contact and the occasional 'authority' and 'power' by seeing them if I go to radiology. And at the same time, dumbly, worried if I would be horrible at managing psych patients...

I am soooooooooooo torn apart. right? T_T

 

[vistaril]

I'm going through my internship in one of the Europian country and having a hard time choosing what line of career I'll go after internship.

I have narrowed down my options to two : Psychiatry or Radiology.

Many would think that these are two very different fields of medicine(Psychiatry has a lot of doctor-patient interactions while Radiology not..etc etc) but I have my little reasons for contemplating over these two :

Somtimes in the future, I want to do research about the brain.

I was very deeply inspired by Eric Kandel, who is a psychiatrist and a Nobel laureate who discovered the basic mechanisms of memory storage. I'm wishing to do my own line of research someday considering the mechanisms of human brain, and I'm wondering which path would be better for me : Psychiatry? or Radiology?

well one thing to consider is can you do radiology? I take it you are an img(if not why are you in Europe now?)....while radiology isn't as competitive as it was many years ago, it's still orders of magnitude more competitive than the least competitive specialties(psych). Imgs have a fairly easy time matching in psych, whereas most imgs couldn't match radiology. They have nothing in common as fields though. if money is important and you can definitely pick radiology.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

...

My first question - which route would be better for research and academics? I had thought naively that I could choose to do neuroradiology and do research about the human mind as a neurorad...is it really possible? If not, is psychiatry a better place to do such research?

Here's a guy you could emulate. Did residencies in psych AND nuclear medicine. Bonus: he was an IMG besides.
Double bonus: cover of Newsweek!

Second question for psychiatrists - dealing with psych patients, does residents get burnt out a lot? This is actually my biggest curiosity and worry. Is my fascination towards the human mind alone enough to choose psych? Some of my friends say go radiology for there wouldn't be any stress considering patients, some say go psych for it seems like more fun to them.

Of course. It can be fun, but it's not all fun. Admitting your 5th narc-seeking, drunk, smelly, homeless, "suicidal with a plan" person in one night can make you question your humanity...and frankly, a "fascination towards the human mind" won't get you through that. It wouldn't get you through a month of reading mammograms, or even brain MRIs either.

 

[heyjack70]

If you like talking to patients in depth and at length, and are okay making less money, become a psychiatrist.
If you are okay with not really making a connection with patients, but like your rads rotation, and want more money, become a radiologist. One thing is almost certain (I think), if you go into psych and later decide to switch into radiology, it is probably not possible. In contrast, if you are a rads resident and want to switch into psych, you might have some limitations geographically based on where there is an open PGY-2 spot, but you can do it.