Self-fulfillment as a Psychiatrist

[Darkskies]

The quoted post below originally posted on the 'Second Year Slump' thread sums up my main curiosity with regards to Psychiatry. Do you feel that your career is very meaningful and that you help many patients in your day to day work(no matter if it takes a very long time to see any improvement, as long as there is some eventual improvement)? Thanks in advance!

I did one year of psychiatry and felt rather unhappy because I did not feel like people were getting much better nor that there was much personal satisfaction from te work. During the year I found myself being more enthusiastic when off service and happier overall when I was off service. People told me it was burn out but I didn't feel tired in fact I found my psychiatric work to be very easy and people thought it was of high caliber...putting it together for me it was right to leave the specialty. I took a leap into EM not knowing if it would be perfect for me or not and thankfully it has become my passion. I could tell in the first month that it was right for me.

At least for me I knew deep down things weren't right when I was a psychiatrist and I knew immediately they were when I was in EM.

Good luck finding your way...you'll know what's right for you I think.

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[wolfvgang22]

Yes.
I don't think I'd like emergency medicine every day, though I enjoyed my EM rotations in residency and med school.

 

[hamstergang]

Do you feel that your career is very meaningful and that you help many patients in your day to day work

Absolutely. I feel I make good treatment recommendations that actually improve symptoms, and I also quite often reduce side effect potential by simplifying medication regimens started by others. I feel I communicate effectively with my patients to help them better understand their own experiences.

I could be wrong, of course.

 

[notdeadyet]

Do you feel that your career is very meaningful and that you help many patients in your day to day work(no matter if it takes a very long time to see any improvement, as long as there is some eventual improvement)? Thanks in advance!

Yes, providing you see psychiatry as long term care of chronic conditions.

If you do not see patients getting better over the long haul, either you are working with a particularly refractory population (which can happen in some specific work environments), you're not looking hard enough, or you're not good at your job.