Gaining Exposure to Psychiatry

[packitinstan]

I will be starting medical school this fall in Philadelphia and was wondering what I can do to gain greater exposure to the field. Psychiatry is an area of medicine that has interested me ever since highschool, not really sure why...maybe it's just my personality. I do want to explore this field in greater depth in order to determine whether I have a liking for it, but have never been able to shadow a psychiatrist. What would you guys suggest for someone in my position?

...Oh and what is psychosomatic medicine? I was perusing through various fellowships in the field when I came across that specialization, and after a quick glance at wiki, I wasn't able to really figure it out.

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[michaelrack]

...Oh and what is psychosomatic medicine? .

Psychosomatic medicine is basically doing psychiatry on patients with medical illness.

 

[Kluver Bucy]

I will be starting medical school this fall in Philadelphia and was wondering what I can do to gain greater exposure to the field. QUOTE]

Join your medical school's psychiatry club (or contact the program director and start one if it doesn't exist). Take psychiatry electives, do research in psychiatry and get published, and join the American Psychiatry Association as a medical student. Other than that, just open your eyes: a large proportion of your patients are going to have psychiatric illnesses and taking psych meds.

Best,

Kluver

 

[whopper]

I think best way to get real exposure is to work in a good inpatient unit. You can do so in many states with simply a bachelor's degree. In NJ they are called MHA's (Mental Health Associates). These people run group therapy. It can earn you some good cash, maybe even a good letter of reccomendation.

I personally don't like shadowing docs much. The times I did so, I didn't learn much because shadowing for many of them is simply just following them around with nothing much else to do. I think students learn more when they are given tasks & obstacles to overcome. Makes learning more fun too.

IF you want to go into psychiatry, be prepared for your medical education curriculum to not focus much on mental health aspects. That was the most frustrating aspect for me. It does in the end become important, especially when doing psychiatry consults on the medical floor, but still frustrating.

 

[packitinstan]

I
IF you want to go into psychiatry, be prepared for your medical education curriculum to not focus much on mental health aspects. That was the most frustrating aspect for me. It does in the end become important, especially when doing psychiatry consults on the medical floor, but still frustrating.

So psychiatrists don't learn as much relevant information for the field until residency relative to other fields?