Student in need of help

[roberti2006]

Hello everyone,
I'm a college student currently enrolled in summer school. I've been given an assignment to interview folks in fields that I myself one day aspire to be in. Given my major, psychology, and my intrinsic/intuitive attributes, my chosen career path is in the general area of the same. This assignment require I conduct three interviews for three specific occupations. The three I've chosen are: 1. Alcohol/drug counselor. 2. Mental health counselor. 3. Psychiatrist.

If anyone is in a position to answer any of the following questions, and does, I will be eternally grateful. Thanks in advance.

1. What do you like most about your job and why?

2. What do you like least about your job and why?

3. How did you decide to get into this field?

4. What training would you recommend for someone who wanted to enter this field now? What skills and background are needed to get into this field now?

5. What personal qualities do you feel are most important in your work and why?

6. What are the tasks you do in a typical workday? Would you describe them?

7. What types of stress do you experience on the job?

8. What types of people survive and do well in this field?

9. Is this field expanding? Taking any new directions?

10. Is there anything else about this field that would be helpful for me to know?

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[Shikima]

First you'll need to decide if you want to go to medical school or not...

 

[birchswing]

First you'll need to decide if you want to go to medical school or not...

I'm not sure if you understood what he/she said. He/she said he/she's interviewing people of fields related to his general area of study for an assignment. Not looking for advice on whether to be a psychiatrist or not.

If I were a psychiatrist, I would gladly answer the questions. Hopefully you'll get some bites.

 

[novopsych]

Wow, an unhelpful lot on here. I'll do my best on these.

First a little advice: You probably want to say your “intrinsic intuitive abilities.” It sounds like intrinsic is modifying intuitive, but that gets lost when you say “intrinsic/intuitive.” Also, get more specific when you say alcohol/drug counselor.

Although this is a forum for psychiatrists, you’ll find a few stray (and I use that word in every sense of its meanings) psychologists, as well. I’m a psychiatrist who also practices dance therapy and talk therapy.

OK, onto the questions.

1. I like most that I get to do what I love every day: dance. As to the why, I can only say that the dance and I are one. A day without the dance would be a day not lived.

2. What I like the least are my non-vibrant clients. The ones who half-ass it and aren’t ready to give it their all. Why? Because there are other modalities of psychiatry more suited for them, so it’s a waste of time for both of us.

3. I had been in a ballet company for a couple of years when I got the call to serve as a psychiatrist. No one here can describe the call to you. It sounds like you’ve already heard it yourself. I packed for Anguilla and have never regretted it for a second.

4. To be a psychiatrist you need to successfully complete 1) an undergraduate education 2) medical school 3) a residency in psychiatry. I recommend that in undergraduate school you follow your passion as closely as possible. More and more medical schools have programs that teach students the science basics that used to be pre-requisites for admission. There are even some medical school/undergraduate combos where you can start gaining medical school credits as an undergrad. As far as residency, bloom where you are planted, as I always say.

5. Confidence is tantamount in psychiatry. Many will judge you, try to knock you down a peg, and you’ve got to just go with your gut. The proof of your work is in your patients, not the judgment of others.

6. There’s no typical day for me as my workweek is heterogeneous. That is to say, some days are exclusively devoted to dance therapy with clients. Some days I have talk therapy and med management appointments. Dance therapy is something very few people can do well. Talk therapy is also something few people can do well, but more people can do it well than dance therapy. And med management is about as rote as it gets. Having said that, a lot still get it wrong. All of us do to some extent.

7. Stress on the job: Sometimes I momentarily forget that my patients are not dancers—they are in dance therapy. I try to look for vibrancy, not perfection. It’s difficult to see a patient not coming into their own and recovering. You have to be wise enough to know when to refer the patient out to a doctor better suited to the job.

8. The people who survive in this job? It’s fairly hard to mess up as a psychiatrist but some manage to anyway. You’ve just got to keep it together. When you get stressed, the answer is really quite simple. Remind yourself to keep it together. The people who do really well in this field are ones who can actually help people, even if they had never become a psychiatrist. If you’re one of those people, you already know it.

9. Dance therapy is exploding. Psychiatry as a field is desperate for more doctors, as well. Is the breadth of knowledge expanding? There’s a feeling we’re on the precipice of something. But we’ve been feeling that precipice coming a long time—could just be gas, if you ask me.

10. Psychiatry is whatever you make of it. Make it your own, as no one else has yet figured out exactly what it is (seriously—it would be naive to say that psychiatry is any one thing at this point in its history—we have no idea what it will become). So it’s a perfect medium for your self-expression.

 

[Shikima]

I wish I had the time to make a Meme from this post.

 

[TexasPhysician]

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