Any books you wish you read before you were a PGY-1?

[newchaptermd]

While i am waiting for the Match, i wanted to get a head-start for psych residency. any recommendations? books i should buy and read now while i have the time?

Thanks!

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[billypilgrim37]

A Rememberance of Things Past, Marcel Proust.

And yes, I know that's not what you meant. But it's what you should have meant!

 

[newchaptermd]

Should i read it in French? My high school french isn't that good! But i admit that my high school english teacher always wanted us to read it within our lifetime. it might go on my list!

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Billy's point-well-taken here is that there will be plenty of time to brush up on psych & medicine over the next 4 years. Have some fun, or culture, or whatever while you can!

 

[whopper]

I recommend getting step 3 out of the way. It's such a monkey to have your back in psychiatry residency.

 

[newchaptermd]

Whopper: I passed step3 last month; after the holidays and interview season done, i am not used to the free time.

and you are right, OldPsychDoc and Billypilgrim37 about the pleasure reading and life outside of medicine. That's part of the plan, but i wants to start brushing up on the psych stuff too. you know, have the security blanket of a psych book in my bag while i am sipping mojitos on the beach!

wow. sounds like i am loser for want to read psych stuff now when i should be cherishing the last few months of freedom!

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Whopper: I passed step3 last month; after the holidays and interview season done, i am not used to the free time.

and you are right, OldPsychDoc and Billypilgrim37 about the pleasure reading and life outside of medicine. That's part of the plan, but i wants to start brushing up on the psych stuff too. you know, have the security blanket of a psych book in my bag while i am sipping mojitos on the beach!

wow. sounds like i am loser for want to read psych stuff now when i should be cherishing the last few months of freedom!

As long as you're only using it to weight down your blanket against sudden warm breezes, I have no problem with that.

 

[whopper]

Congratulations on passing Step III before residency even started!

 

[newchaptermd]

Thanks Whopper. it is a big relief not to worry about Step3 anymore!

And oh sooo true, OldPsychDoc!

 

[babel]

So you can register for and take Step 3 before graduation? I'm just in third year now, obviously haven't even taken Step 2 yet, but looking ahead to the free time I'll have late in 4th year, seems like it might be nice to get it out of the way...... what are people's thoughts about when to take it? Is it important for psych fellowships? Thanks!

 

[newchaptermd]

Hi Babel. Not sure if you can take step3 without first graduating med school. But there are some hospitals that require their interns to pass step3 before signing their PGY-2 contract. and once in psych, i knew i would forget all the medicine stuff. so i am just glad to get it out of the way.

you are going to need Step3 to get licensed, regardless about fellowships but that's down the road once you are in residency. do scores matter? depends on the fellowship and program i guess.

 

[kohut]

As might be expected from my username, I would suggest reading some psychoanalytic literature. I've always found it strange how averse some psychiatrists are to psychoanalysis, and vice versa analysts to psychiatry. If you haven't read Interpretation of Dreams, that is a must, and I would also highly recommend Beyond the Pleasure Principle and Mourning and Melancholia (all by Freud). Klein and Kohut also have some seminal texts on object-relations that I would think crucial to becoming a better psychiatrist. I would stay away from Lacan who, while interesting, is more suited to literature departments than medicine.

And Le Recherche du le Temps Perdu or the Moncrieff translation are always worth reading (stay away from the new translation which--just like pharmaceutical evergreening--was released only to prolong copyright profits). Good luck getting through Swann's Way, let alone all five volumes, though!

 

[newchaptermd]

Hi Kohut. I admit i did have a chuckle with your username. I read Interpretation of Dreams in college, along with Jung, Horney, and a few others as part of my undergrad psych courses. i must look up that box of college books, to replace the reviewers on my bookshelf. i haven't read Kohut or Klein. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[billypilgrim37]

And Le Recherche du le Temps Perdu or the Moncrieff translation are always worth reading (stay away from the new translation which--just like pharmaceutical evergreening--was released only to prolong copyright profits). Good luck getting through Swann's Way, let alone all five volumes, though!

Nerd fight!

Okay, Moncrieff's translation is beautiful. It's like reading words smothered in maple syrup smeared all over your face. It drips gooey, and it's still readable, and that it is an achievement all into itself.

But that wasn't really Proust's style at all. The "In Search of Lost Time" is more Hemingway than Mrs. Butterworth, and above all it is much more "Proust."

I'd actually suggest going to the library and reading the first 30 pages of Swann's Way in both translations, and then going with whichever one will sustain your attention for the next 200 hours of reading that you're signing up for. I only own the Moncrieff, but I wish I could justify buying the second translation as my Kaplan and Sadock stares at me, jilted.



The worst thing: I'm actually reading Twilight right now.
Even worse: I'm actually finishing the 4th Twilight book.

 

[nancysinatra]

Nerd fight!

I believe it's À la recherche du temps perdu. (Someone mentioned it above as being called "Le Recherche du le Temps Perdu")

Thanks for the translation recommendation! Makes me want to go read it again right now!

 

[atsai3]

I would recommend a book by Nassir Ghaemi or Paul McHugh. Many programs do not cover this material.

-AT.

 

[SAS1284]

Concepts in Psychiatry and the Rise and Fall of the Biopsychosocial Model by Nassir Ghaemi are good reads.

 

[acuriousstudent]

I'm probably just going to veg and wait to see where I'll be spending the next 4 years.

But, if I were a better human, I'd thoroughly read these 4 (I've read through them, sort of, but I feel like I'd really have a handle on psych if I had them down pat):


The Psychiatric Interview in Clinical Practice by Mackinnon, Michels, and Buckley
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Th...e/9781585623952/?itm=1&USRI=mackinnon+michels

Approach to the Psychiatric Patient, ed by Barnhill
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Ap...781585623006/?itm=1&usri=barnhill+psychiatrichttp://search.barnesandnoble.com/bo...l+psychiatric&box=barnhill psychiatric&pos=-1

The Perspectives of Psychiatry by McHugh and Slavney
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Th...ugh/e/9780801860461/?itm=1&usri=mcugh+slavney

and then one of the psychopharm books (either Schatzberg or Stahl, probably, though I'm open to suggestions). Oh, and probably a neuro book, and an internal medicine book, etc...

 

[newchaptermd]

Sorry, BillyPilgrim37, i can't participate in the nerd fight. Just not cool enough. But i admit, i am embarrassed for you now that you admitted to reading four of the Twilight books.

My quick read of the weekend was The Pluto Files by Neil Degrasse Tyson. A fun read, especially with the cartoons and letters he reproduced. Now i am definitely going to visit the Hayden Planetarium again.

And thanks for the book suggestions for some serious reading. But after seeing the prices of books adding up, ugh. I might have to wait. or get lucky on half.com.