D.O.'s and psychiatry

[kundog223]

Can someone tell me how being trained as an osteopathic physician would benefit me if I were to practice psychiatry in the future?

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[spicedmanna]

Can someone tell me how being trained as an osteopathic physician would benefit me if I were to practice psychiatry in the future?

Best bit of advice: talk to some DO psychiatrists; get it from the horse's mouth.

I can only speak from my experience. I think that the mind is not separable from the body. Therefore a disruption in one is going to be accompanied by a disruption in the other. To me, it makes sense to treat both together. I think, if you looked for it and if you are into OMM, you can diagnose and treat somatic dysfunctions along with psychiatric issues. One can support the other. I am aware that not many physicians practice OMM regularly, let along psychiatrists, but it's a thought... My initial response, before I typed all this is that there isn't going to be much advantage, but I am being optimistic.

 

[SomeDoc]

Can someone tell me how being trained as an osteopathic physician would benefit me if I were to practice psychiatry in the future?

Getting it from the horse's mouth would be best. I would think that you would make just as good a psychiatrist as a non-DO. In fields like PM&R, OMM use can be very useful, due in part to the nature of the practice. Aside from pure OMM specialties, specialties that come to mind are Orthopedics, Sports Medicine, FM. Other fields, eg: EM can benefit from some of the more minor, quick techniques, time-permitting (eg: quick orthopedic structural assessments, lymphatic pumps, etc). Some of the techniques you'll learn will be broadly applicable and quick, whereas others are more specialty-oriented (PM&R/OMM), and require more of a time-commitment to utilize. That being said, the knowledge will be at your disposal if you ever need to use it.

 

[surrender903]

on my psych rotation i discussed with my attending the benefits of doing soft tissue and MFR on depressed and anxious patients. bipolar and schizophrenics not so much.

 

[lilzelda2]

Can someone tell me how being trained as an osteopathic physician would benefit me if I were to practice psychiatry in the future?

What do you mean? Like if someone asks that when ur interviewing, like you want to be a psychiatist so why osteopathy? When I was interviewing I said I like the philosophy of treating the whole person rather than an illness, b/c sometimes in psychiatry this concept is lost. Your so quick to medicate that you forget about other aspects of a persons life that can be affected, like their family and social life. Maybe OMM doesn't help in psychiatric illness so much, but just the way ur trained to look at people and taking that extra minute is whats great about osteopathy.

Damn I actually think I like being a DO

 

[Doctor Bagel]

This has been discussed before in the psychiatry forum, so you might want to check it out. One thing brought up there is that psychiatrists are generally discouraged from touching patients, so you might not get to do much OMM.

 

[SomeDoc]

What do you mean? Like if someone asks that when ur interviewing, like you want to be a psychiatist so why osteopathy? When I was interviewing I said I like the philosophy of treating the whole person rather than an illness, b/c sometimes in psychiatry this concept is lost. Your so quick to medicate that you forget about other aspects of a persons life that can be affected, like their family and social life. Maybe OMM doesn't help in psychiatric illness so much, but just the way ur trained to look at people and taking that extra minute is whats great about osteopathy.

Damn I actually think I like being a DO

It's Osteopathic Medicine, not Osteopathy.

 

[lilzelda2]

It's Osteopathic Medicine, not Osteopathy.

okay????? Whats the difference??? B.c they all mean the same to me...

 

[ShyRem]

Cross posted in psych forums. closing this one. You can post here if you wish.