Child Psych, research, funding, etc.

[slowhazel]

Hi all, I'm doing an integrated child and adult psych residency program, with a research component, and some remarkable opportunities (both academic and loan repayment). I wanted to offer myself as a sounding board for those interested in academic child psych.

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[rpkall]

Hey there;

Thanks very much for the offer to answer questions, etc. I'm going into MS1 this fall, and I'm very interested in adult and child/adolescent psychiatry... but one of the clinical issues I worry about is professional pressure on child psychiatrists to stick solely to medical management and not analysis and/or family/parental counseling. I've always been interested in mental health issues, and especially family dynamics and the health of kids growing up in different environments--but I'm worried that if I choose the child psych path, I'll be pressured to push pills rather than get to the root cause of issues and direct people toward more cognitive therapies, etc.. Psychiatrists trained well in psychopharmacology AND analysis are fewer and fewer these days; I've been hoping there would be a market for that kind of "balanced" practice of child psych if I choose that path. That said, I am interested in academic psych, especially neuroimaging with MR/nuclear studies--is any of this done in the pediatric population in illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, etc?

p.s. What are the loan repayment options you mentioned? I was under the impression that the most common (health service corps) wouldn't let you subspecialize in Child/Adolescent if you wanted to do their forgiveness program (or are you talking about other repayment options?)...?

Thanks for any and all info you could provide. Best of luck to you in your residency.