Teaching Psychology with an M.D. (Psychiatry Residency)

[TeachEm]

So I'm planning to partake in a Psychiatry residency, and I was wondering if it was possible if a physician could teach courses in college. I love psychiatry and counselling people, but I've always had a drive to teach students. Do you think that's possible or would I have to pursue a Master's degree or Ph.D. in psychology to have the option of teaching.

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[AcronymAllergy]

I've not heard of it happening in a "traditional" psychology academic department, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. That being said, I'd imagine you could look into doing some teaching at a medical school. Or you could always look to see about delivering lectures/training to psychology externs/interns/postdocs and psychiatry residents.

 

[erg923]

So I'm planning to partake in a Psychiatry residency, and I was wondering if it was possible if a physician could teach courses in college. I love psychiatry and counselling people, but I've always had a drive to teach students. Do you think that's possible or would I have to pursue a Master's degree or Ph.D. in psychology to have the option of teaching.

Teach what you know. Adjuncting teaching of psychopharm, neuroscience, or other specialized classes seems fine. Not sure why a college would hire a you over a psychologist to teach social psychology, psychotherapy, or Learning and cognition?

 

[PsyDr]

I have an MD colleague that teaches a bioengineering course. But he has education and experience in that field.

A psychiatric residency would not prepare you to teach most undergrad psych courses. You would lack the base of things like both classical and modern psychophysics and the resulting laws, the math behind operant and classical conditioning, most stats, the rich history of most developments, social psychochology, etc

 

[nitemagi]

Depends on the residency, depends on the course.

 

[PsyDr]

To quote a wise person: "You're inflating the depth of such programs, as if they're equivalent to other pathways.".

 

[Occlumentia]

I've had psychiatrists as guest lecturers in my clinical course, for topics such as somatoform disorders and involuntary hospitalisation - they were well-received and had interesting and relevant info to provide. Interestingly, our psychopharmacology classes were taught by a psychopharmacologist/neuroscientist, not a psychiatrist.