psychiatry vs. surgery

If you're between psychiatry and surgery your next step is to get into medical school. You will have 4 years of intense education with exposure to both fields to answer that question for yourself. I was in your exact situation between these two specialties. For all you know, after 4 years of medical training you'll decide to go into pathology. The deciding factors for me going into psychiatry: social interaction with patients, the human experience, and the intellectual challenge of treating different types of mental illnesses. There are additional factors you may consider prior to graduating medical school (factors that change due to economic and political forces ie. supply/demand, reimbursement rates): average work hours, average hourly rate, and practice settings.

icarus2847 said:

I'm currently an undergraduate student and am majoring in Nutritional sciences. I've always had an interest in psychology though and so by the time I graduate, I'll have about 20 credits from psych classes and then a few credits from human development.

I'm interested in becoming a surgeon and have been for a long time, but recently have been thinking about the pros and cons of psychiatry vs surgery. I really enjoy helping people and have always been an analytical person. Also, both require you to go to med school.

Has anyone been here before, where they weren't sure which was the better choice for themselves in the long run? Has anyone done both? I'm really curious about that last question. I know I have awhile before I have to decide, but thought I would ask to get a peace of mind. If anyone has any advice or personal experience, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm new here, so I'm not sure if this was the right place to post this. I posted this somewhere else and was given advice to post in this area. Thanks.

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I'll tell you something, both are very invasive fields, and that's why I also debated between the two. I am currently in the process for interviews for psychiatry because that is what I decided I loved more.

Through my rotations I talked to residents in surgery and psychiatry, and many(surprisingly) also were stuck with a hard decision between the two. One of residents(med. student at the time) said that she was stuck with choosing between the two fields, until her uncle became extremely depressed, and she realized, with first hand experience, that she couldn't deal with people like that so she became a surgeon instead.

Anyways, you have 4 years of hell before figuring out residency, err I meant medical school, yea, medical school...

I enjoyed surgery. I reached a type of zen mindset while doing it and I'm a model builder as a hobby. Both IMHO got me to the same mindset.

Reason why I didn't go into it aside that I liked psychiatry better was that surgery demands you work crazy hours. IMHO the money really isn't better per hour, it's just that you work so much more as to why you make more money.

whopper said:

I enjoyed surgery. I reached a type of zen mindset while doing it and I'm a model builder as a hobby. Both IMHO got me to the same mindset.

Reason why I didn't go into it aside that I liked psychiatry better was that surgery demands you work crazy hours. IMHO the money really isn't better per hour, it's just that you work so much more as to why you make more money.

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I really enjoyed surgery as well. For me what it came down to was that I would rather talk to patients and have more control over my life. They idea of being married to the hospital and having the hospital staff become by family was not that appealing to me. I would rather have my wife be my wife, and have a real family with which I could spend time with. I respect the people that have so much passion for surgery that they can live that kind of life.

I think its funny the number of people who debate between the two, as I see little to no similarities between the specialties. From lifestyle, to pt interaction, to generally what you do everyday, they are just so different.

As far as surgery, I feel as if you have to be incredibly passionate about it to make a good surgeon. You have to enjoy operating more than anything else in the world, and I do mean anything, otherwise you will do a poor job when called upon in the middle of the night or when called away from your family or other activity you are enjoying to go into the OR. If you're on the fence and not really sure if surgery is right for you, then it probably isn't (I mean this after you have completed at least 3 years of medical school to gain the proper exposure, you have plenty of time to decide on your career OP).

Also, to answer your original question, I can't see it being feasible to be both a surgeon and psychiatrist for a number of reasons. Training would consist of 2 entirely different residencies as there is virtually no overlap in the two resideny curriculums other than maybe a couple medicine months. Even if you were able to somehow recieve adequate training in both, I would think that it would be nearly impossible to practice both. Most surgeons don't even have time to spend with their families let alone have a psychiatric practice on the side. The only way I could possibly see integrating both would be if you were in academia and were involved in some sort of multidisciplinary research facility or something along those lines, where although you would likely be much more focused on your aspect/specialty area, but you could still be exposed to the other side.

No matter how much I liked it, I realized if I worked 80+ hours a week in any field I'd hate it.

whopper said:

No matter how much I liked it, I realized if I worked 80+ hours a week in any field I'd hate it.

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Ditto

psychphan said:

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As far as surgery, I feel as if you have to be incredibly passionate about it to make a good surgeon. You have to enjoy operating more than anything else in the world, and I do mean anything, otherwise you will do a poor job when called upon in the middle of the night or when called away from your family or other activity you are enjoying to go into the OR. If you're on the fence and not really sure if surgery is right for you, then it probably isn't (I mean this after you have completed at least 3 years of medical school to gain the proper exposure, you have plenty of time to decide on your career OP).

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I would like to respectfully disagree with the above. I feel that if you are on the fence and not sure if surgery is right for you, that does not mean that your should just go into some other field. As I mentioned before, I have talked to several residents that were deciding between the two, and they have chosen surgery and are quite happy.

But I do agree that you have at least 3 years of schooling before a decision HAS to be made.

Extralong said:

I would like to respectfully disagree with the above. I feel that if you are on the fence and not sure if surgery is right for you, that does not mean that your should just go into some other field. As I mentioned before, I have talked to several residents that were deciding between the two, and they have chosen surgery and are quite happy.

But I do agree that you have at least 3 years of schooling before a decision HAS to be made.

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Well lets see how happy they are 10 years after residency when they are still working intern hours and still getting called like mad. All I'm saying is the good surgeons I know are incredibly passionate about it, and see it as their lives. The mediocre/not so good surgeons I know view it as a job, and are generally kind of bitter because of the lifestyle. That was my point.