Entertaining the idea of career in Psych. Help me doc!

[StHeart]

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Hi guys. My name is Danny, I'mfrom Montreal, Quebec and am 22 years old. After having taken a year off from studying English Literature at Concordia University -- and subsequently soul-searching for an answer to my career prospect woes -- I decided last week that something in the field of Psychology would be much less dull and much more rewarding in the long run (both financially and otherwise).

My dilemma is this: I want to make a first step but have so many unanswered questions. First off, I graduated from Cegep with a degree in Communications and I never studied biology in High School. So my grasp of the sciences could be much stronger.

Would it be better to consider Psychology rather than Psychiatry seeing as it is less medical in nature? Also, what is the first step, from an educational perspective, to take now that I've decided what I want in my life. Should I set up an academic advising appointment at Concordia or forget about that insitution entirely.

I'm not sure what steps you must take to fully achieve the degree but I'm willing to learn everything and take my time in school in order to attain the highest rank in the field.

I will continue to research this while waiting for your answers! Thank you for the time!

 

[whopper]

If you want to go into psychiatry, you're going to have to go through an intense physical & biological science regimen--the pre-med courses. Then add to that, about 90% of your medical education will not directly be related to the practice of psychiatry. If you have an intense love of mental health, you're not going to get as much of an education in it as a psychology major.

But psychiatry is a type of practice that psychologists can't do, and you may prefer psychiatric practice more than psychology.

If you want to go into psychology, you have to go through a psychology major, eventually get a masters & a Psy.D. or Ph.D. The education will be more based on studying aspects dealing with mental health, however there is much taught in psychology that doesn't directly apply to mental health either. Remember-psychology is the study of the human mind in general--whether or not it pertains to mental health. You could for example take a class in ergonomics, Industrial & Corporate Psychology or human reaction time while as a psychology major.

In clinical practice, psychiatry tends to focus more on the use of medication to treat mental illness, though psychotherapy should be used as well. It uses a medical model to treat mental illness. It pays better & has better job security.

Psychology tends to treat patients based on psychotherapy, but also uses more psychometric testing in general than psychiatrists use. Psychologists, at least in my opinion also have a broader perspective on dealing with issues that are not directly related to mental health, but may be unique to the patient, and does not use a medical model all the time which can actually be a benefit (for you psychiatrists out there who may question ths--I'm seeing a lot of interesting & beneficial psychotherapy stuff that psychiatrists would never do that I'm seeing psychologists do).

 

[StHeart]

Geez, that was very enlightening. Thank you! Seems to me, since I don't have as good a background in the sciences as I would like, and since I am more interested in the human mind and how mental health works I should follow the Psychology path (although better pay and security grr).

I also love listening to people and have a general curiosity for other people's lives. I REALLY enjoy seeing someone's situation improve through their efforts and through whatever help they can get. I find that satisfying.

I know that Concordia University offers a major in Psychology. So once I apply for that undergraduate program and succeed, then I will move on to another institution? A specialized institution for my master's and eventually Psy.D, PhD?

Wow so exciting. I finally feel like I have a purpose and a concrete goal to achieve. BTW...what's the average pay >_>

 

[BobA]

Before you pursue a career in psychiatry, you might want to get some real-life experience interacting with the mentally ill. Consider a job at :

http://www.backdoorjobs.com/springlake.html

http://www.cooperriis.org/

http://www.hopewell.cc/

All of these places offer short-term employment with housing and might help you understand if a career in psychiatry is right for you!

 

[notdeadyet]

Geez, that was very enlightening. Thank you! Seems to me, since I don't have as good a background in the sciences as I would like, and since I am more interested in the human mind and how mental health works I should follow the Psychology path (although better pay and security grr).

You don't need to have a good background in the sciences to pursue medical school. I had zero science in my BA when I started this path.

That said, while it's not necessary to start out with a lot of science, I think it's crucial to have a passion for science. You'd need to spend a solid year in very basic science courses, followed by two years of medical school in which you are essentially continuing to take science courses before spending the final two years focusing primarily on patient care. A four year residency in psychiatry is very heavily dependent on science material as well.

So if you love science and want to pursue Psychiatry, it's not too late. But don't "tolerate" the science in hopes of becoming a psychiatrist. Make sense?

One more note: folks will talk about how competitive it is to get in to medical school (all true), but keep in mind that getting in to good psychology programs is no picnic either. There's a great forum here on SDN that can answer those specific questions for you.

Good luck with your decision... Exciting times...

 

[whopper]

That said, while it's not necessary to start out with a lot of science, I think it's crucial to have a passion for science.

Agree.

You don't have to be a science whiz. I've know people that were history, Literature, Philosophy & psychology majors get into medical school.

But if you do want to be a psychiatrist, you have to go to medical school, and that necessitates, taking the pre-med courses, and on top of that having to have about a 3.5 science GPA.

Then add to that, medschool is going to ram a lot of biological & chemical medical science classes at an intense rate. You don't have to be great at science, but you will have to do well in pre-med and be able to at least tolerate having one of the most intense scientific curriculums possible, and much of that data you learn will not directly be related to the mental health aspects. For example, having to memorize hundreds of histo slides of cancer cells, and how they stain differently will be part of your curriculum.

As was said above, "tolerate" is not exactly a good way of making it through something very difficult.

I don't want to talk you out of psychiatry. Check it out. If you love it, to the point where you're willing to be pre-med and go through medschool try it. Several of the things you will learn in medschool that are not directly related to mental health may also come into play. Several medical disorders do affect mental health.

A friend of mine I met in residency was in college and didn't know which path to pick. At our hospital, we had the benefit of him being able to talk to psychologists & psychiatrists & was able to follow both. He chose psychology. Good for him and I respect his decision. Try to check out both worlds & see which is a better fit for you. SDN also has a psychology section and thay may be able to help.

Oh and by the way, as mentioned above, as hard as medschool is to get into and IMHO psychology somewhat easier, psychology graduate school is still very competitive and not easy to get into ether. Easier don't mean easy, nor should be it seen as lesser either. I've seen several psychologists that I tremendously respect as equals or superiors.

From what I've seen, and this is from from own experiences as a psychology major over 10 years ago (so it may be out of date), you really need a good plan acted upon by the end of your sophomore to beginning of your junior year-good grades, a plan to study for the GRE & Psychology GRE, good letters of reccomendation and some research experience. Ask some people at the psychology dept at your university for guidance.