family medicine vs psychiatry

[roseclue22]

Hi there! *waves* I'm an MSW who's looking at possibly going to medical school.

Someone on here - RazorBack58 - posted on a thread about going from Social Work to becoming an MD. This user recommends looking at Family Medicine as a specialty versus psychiatry. What are other peoples' thoughts?

The same values that led me to go into social work are informing my motives to go into medicine, and I'd like to perform psychotherapy and prescribing medication as needed.

At the same time, I'm happy with the idea of being the primary point person for a family with psychiatric issues that otherwise might go disregarded. In fact, this might be more important to me, long-term. But I also really care about improving patient care in psychiatric contexts (I'll be posting a thread about that at some point in the near future). What are other folks' thoughts on the matter?

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[MadRadLad]

Shadow both and figure out what you fits into your view.

From my shadowing experience, FM does tend to see a lot of psych cases since they're the catch-all generalists.

 

[theseeker4]

Hi there! *waves* I'm an MSW who's looking at possibly going to medical school.

Someone on here - RazorBack58 - posted on a thread about going from Social Work to becoming an MD. This user recommends looking at Family Medicine as a specialty versus psychiatry. What are other peoples' thoughts?

The same values that led me to go into social work are informing my motives to go into medicine, and I'd like to perform psychotherapy and prescribing medication as needed.

At the same time, I'm happy with the idea of being the primary point person for a family with psychiatric issues that otherwise might go disregarded. In fact, this might be more important to me, long-term. But I also really care about improving patient care in psychiatric contexts (I'll be posting a thread about that at some point in the near future). What are other folks' thoughts on the matter?

You are going to see a lot of patients with psychiatric conditions, both being treated and undiagnosed/untreated, no matter what you specialize in. What your main goals as a physician are, and what specialties you enjoy the day-to-day life of once you start shadowing/rotating, should influence your decision, as there are countless pros and cons of each that could be discussed all day.