Committing to Medicine

[RainBurgh]

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Hi everyone, I'm new to forums, but I hope you all can help.

I'm in my final year of undergraduate studies in Psychology & Linguistics, and I am seriously considering pursuing medicine as a second degree. I'm really interested in neurodegenerative disorders (or anything neurological) and how they affect one linguistically, and I'm also interested in rehab medicine. I know this is fairly specialized, but I'd like to be able to assess, identify, and treat patients with disorders or brain trauma (including talking to family when necessary). I'm not sure if medicine will allow me to do all of this, or if I'm trying to allow too much patient time.
I've investigated neuropsychology, but the person I shadowed only saw the patient once and was more interested in research. I'd like to see a patient more often and work with them beyond the level of assessment in order to provide appropriate rehab treatments.
I really like the sound of medical psychology, but it's only recognized in two states, and I'd like to have a broader range of places to live and work.
Speech-and-language pathology is interesting, but something about it doesn't reach out and grab me.

Is it possible to do medicine with a neuropsychological and/or linguistic spin?

 

[SN12357]

You should try and talk to some PM&R docs as well as some neurologists (particularly those who work with stroke patients). Also try to find another neuropsychologist to talk to/shadow--there are definite some out there who spend much more time with patients than what you describe.

Certainly you could pursue medicine in the general area you describe. However if you would only be willing to work with this particular patient population the time, money, and risk of becoming a physician might not make sense for you. The path to becoming a doctor is too long and has too many twists and turns if your interests are too narrow.

 

[RainBurgh]

Thanks! I actually took a course that was taught by a neuropsychologist, and I got the impression that the job revolves around assessment of the patient and working with the family (often more than with the patient, which doesn't sound ideal). I never thought about PM&R (didn't know what you meant, but Google solves everything), but it does sound interesting. I'll look into it more, but after a quick look, it doesn't mention anything about cognitive rehab. I would think that for a field that works with TBI, cognitive ability would be very important to consider.

I've worked with neurologists in the past on summer research internships, and I've really enjoyed them. It seems to be the closest to the interaction I'm looking for. I'd be willing to work with any neurological population; I just really enjoy linguistics, so doing something that involves language would be icing on the cake.