clinical psych PhD or psychiatry MD

[bcliff]

Hello, I'm debating whether I should stick pre-psych (clinical psych phd), or if I should transition into pre-med. I have several poster presentations, manuscripts, and years of experience in various labs under my belt, but I have no hard science background, so I would have to take all of my pre-med req's post-bacc. I know that the earning potential for a psychiatrist is drastically higher than that of a psychologist, and with the psychiatrist shortage it seems it would be much easier to find a job in a desirable location, plus the MD comes with a lot of respect and prestige that a PhD often lacks. I'm a pretty avid poster on the psych page, where I've been told to do what I enjoy most (psychology), but given the added benefits of med school and the ability to still practice psych(iatry), I may learn to love psychiatry/med school more than psychology/grad school. Thoughts?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Chimed]

Hello, I'm debating whether I should stick pre-psych (clinical psych phd), or if I should transition into pre-med. I have several poster presentations, manuscripts, and years of experience in various labs under my belt, but I have no hard science background, so I would have to take all of my pre-med req's post-bacc. I know that the earning potential for a psychiatrist is drastically higher than that of a psychologist, and with the psychiatrist shortage it seems it would be much easier to find a job in a desirable location, plus the MD comes with a lot of respect and prestige that a PhD often lacks. I'm a pretty avid poster on the psych page, where I've been told to do what I enjoy most (psychology), but given the added benefits of med school and the ability to still practice psych(iatry), I may learn to love psychiatry/med school more than psychology/grad school. Thoughts?

Hi,

I was in a similar position while an undergrad. I really struggled with whether to pursue a PhD vs. MD. I ultimately decided that I wanted to prescribe medications and determined that if I wanted to do therapy I would get the training in psychiatry. At the time, the whole prescribing psychologist was being discussed so I did look into and figured in the possibility. For myself, however, I knew I would never be comfortable prescribing medications without having full medical training and that tipped me into wanting to go into medical school. (BTW, I have NO intention of getting into the prescribing psychologist debate...this was just my experience and thought process.). I also enjoyed basic science and decided that I would enjoy learning medicine.

IMO, one thing to seriously ask yourself is whether or not you think you'd enjoy, or at least tolerate, learning medicine for the vast majority of 4 years. Medical school is a big sacrifice and not easy. For myself, I ended up liking medical school so it was the right choice for me. I also feel like I have tons of career options that I would not have had with a PhD. I'm sure you know, however, that getting a PhD will give you a different skill set that you may not get going down a medical route.

In the end, do what you love. If you're passionate about your work and love psychology, you'll do fine.

 

[PrideNeverDie]

doubt you will "learn to love" medicine in med school/residency LOL

i always had a strong interest in psychology, but i always knew i wanted to be a medical doctor

you need that love to carry you through the BS

maybe you can learn to tolerate it, but it definitely won't give you the job satisfaction and you might end up miserable

 

[hamstergang]

I know that the earning potential for a psychiatrist is drastically higher than that of a psychologist, and with the psychiatrist shortage it seems it would be much easier to find a job in a desirable location, plus the MD comes with a lot of respect and prestige that a PhD often lacks.

These all seem like terrible reasons to go to med school, especially since for all but a small portion of those 4 years you will not be doing anything related to psychiatry or psychology. You should do what you love, as you've been told.

 

[tobi44]

Hello, I'm debating whether I should stick pre-psych (clinical psych phd), or if I should transition into pre-med. I have several poster presentations, manuscripts, and years of experience in various labs under my belt, but I have no hard science background, so I would have to take all of my pre-med req's post-bacc. I know that the earning potential for a psychiatrist is drastically higher than that of a psychologist, and with the psychiatrist shortage it seems it would be much easier to find a job in a desirable location, plus the MD comes with a lot of respect and prestige that a PhD often lacks. I'm a pretty avid poster on the psych page, where I've been told to do what I enjoy most (psychology), but given the added benefits of med school and the ability to still practice psych(iatry), I may learn to love psychiatry/med school more than psychology/grad school. Thoughts?

I think its good to be realistic about what your future career will look like. But $ and lifestyle shouldn't be your only concern. You should have a pretty strong interest (or at least ability) in bio/anatomy/pathology ect if you are going to go to medical school.

My bet is that once you start your hard science pre-recs you will find out pretty fast if you have the stamina and ability to get through med school. Start taking the pre-med classes and see how you do. If you can handle the classes then go for med school. If not then look for something else.

 

[Bartelby]

If what you really love is therapy I would lean toward the PhD in your shoes. A practicing psychologist can make a comfortable living working reasonable hours, so the lifestyle (in my opinion) is not a big issue. They do therapy all day since there is no economic push to switch to short med management visits. You also bypass four years of intense medical education with little to do with psychotherapy (not to mention a couple years of prereq basic science classes), an intern year involving brutal internal medicine rotations and lots of learning neurology, and extensive inpatient psychopharmacology experiences (I'm not hearing much interest in these from your post).

The one big loss, I think, is that you can't do both the psychopharm and therapy for your patient (it is nice to combine both with one provider). At first impression from your overall interests and goals though I think you would be happier as a psychologist.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Excellent post by Bartelby. I'd only add that on the -ology side...you will need to be active in research, learn psych assessment, and be beholden to your mentor for the 4-5+ years of grad school. The work is much more of a marathon than a sprint (content-wise), but it can lead to a fulfilling career if you have a good plan.

 

[Merovinge]

Med school really really blows if you are principally a social scientist. Like really, it's generally just awful, and will corrupt your life for a solid 3 years. If you already are very into the life of a PhD psychologist and have that much research experience, you can rise to the top and secure a good paying job that will leave you a lot happier along the way.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Excellent post by Bartelby. I'd only add that on the -ology side...you will need to be active in research, learn psych assessment, and be beholden to your mentor for the 4-5+ years of grad school. The work is much more of a marathon than a sprint (content-wise), but it can lead to a fulfilling career if you have a good plan.

Agree with this (and Bartelby, and pretty much everyone else here). I've enjoyed the neuroscience/nervous systems classes, but if I actually had to also sit through things like ID and gross anatomy, all concurrently, I'd probably hate life (and this coming from someone who generally enjoys learning for the sake of learning). The more time I've spent around physicians (socially and professionally), the more I've realized that even with something like behavioral neurology, which is most similar to the area in which I'm training, I just wouldn't enjoy doing what it is physicians typically do. I generally respect the hell out of it, but don't want to do it myself.

That being said, I'd imagine if a physician who truly loved his/her job sat down and spent a decent amount of time around psychologists, they'd probably say the same thing. If you think the "intellectual masturbation" in some of the medical specialties can be bad, you should sit through a doctoral-level psychopathology seminar sometime.

 

[Leo Aquarius]

I'm learning in residency that so many psychological and psychiatric problems require both medication and therapy, that the two fields are often married into one and sometimes difficult to practice in isolation.

Boy I sure went through terrible grueling training in med school and intern year, but boy it's all worth it to be able to sit down with a patient and be able to offer the full spectrum of help needed. Just my perspective.

Furthermore, think about what kind of cases you want to handle. There are many psych problems that can't be managed by therapy alone. So if you have an interest in, say, bipolar mania or schizophrenia or major depression, then you're talking finding the right medication for that patient.

Lastly, I like what Acronym said. Do you look forward to mental gymnastics and analysis, or treatment? I'm a man of action, and like to get results. Others are blessed with the patience of sitting through long drawn-out analytic sessions. Save yourself the pain of medical training if all you want is to do therapy! We have a psychology PhD on our inpatient unit and so I get a little exposure to her world. Having a strong psychologist on the team is a real gem, and I hope to open a practice one day with a psychologist. But I digress.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I'm learning in residency that so many psychological and psychiatric problems require both medication and therapy, that the two fields are often married into one and sometimes difficult to practice in isolation.

Boy I sure went through terrible grueling training in med school and intern year, but boy it's all worth it to be able to sit down with a patient and be able to offer the full spectrum of help needed. Just my perspective.

Furthermore, think about what kind of cases you want to handle. There are many psych problems that can't be managed by therapy alone. So if you have an interest in, say, bipolar mania or schizophrenia or major depression, then you're talking finding the right medication for that patient.

Lastly, I like what Acronym said. Do you look forward to mental gymnastics and analysis, or treatment? I'm a man of action, and like to get results. Others are blessed with the patience of sitting through long drawn-out analytic sessions. Save yourself the pain of medical training if all you want is to do therapy! We have a psychology PhD on our inpatient unit and so I get a little exposure to her world. Having a strong psychologist on the team is a real gem, and I hope to open a practice one day with a psychologist. But I digress.

I actually do absolutely zero analytic therapy, and my program focused very little on it in grad school. I was more referring to the fact that psychologists as a whole (at least in my experience) tend to spend a very significant amount of time on the conceptualization component with respect to diagnosis and treatment, which is often where many of the mental gymnastics come into play. And in all actuality, the diagnosis itself is seen to be (again, in my experience) of much lesser importance than attempting to determine other components of the case, such as etiological and maintenance factors.

The research side of things also tends to invoke a whoooole lot of mental wheel-spinning. It's a much different way of thinking than seems to be fostered via medical school and the associated medical training model to be sure.