I want to be a doctor, but I hate Med School ?

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IRONEURON

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The truth is, all I'm interested in is how the mind works : psychiatry and neurology.
I plan to be a psychiatrist, this is what I've always wanted as a doctor, I never thought about becoming specialized in any other area.

My question is how can I get over my huge disinterest in studying all the subjects that I need to study in Med School , if my only interest is psychiatry/neurology ?

I know, I know......" You need to build discipline and show that you've got what it takes to become a doctor. "...I know.....it's just that I can't get out of my mind the fact that the majority of these 6 years of studying all those areas that don't interest me is such a long time....Don't get me wrong, I don't complain about the time investment ( being a doctor is for life anyway ) , but I wish I would just see more meaning in it. I just see no meaning for example in studying bones, when my interest is brains.

Thanks for answering.
 
Are you already in medical school? If you're a pre-med, maybe clinical psychology is more up your alley (there's still basic science involved, but less of it).
 
6 years, are you a european student that just started?
 
ortnakas said:
Are you already in medical school? If you're a pre-med, maybe clinical psychology is more up your alley (there's still basic science involved, but less of it).
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Well, no, I don't want to quit my goal of becoming a psychiatrist. I really want to become one , I'm just a little puzzled about how I'm supposed to find any meaning is studying a lot of the subjects that I need to study, if my goal is to become an expert in the human brain, but a lot of things that I need to study in order to get there have nothing to do with studying what I actually want to study, which is the human brain.
 
If you're 100% focused on the brain and wouldn't mind losing the clinical component you also have options available doing a PhD in neurosciences as well. Many well paying careers with the potential for new discoveries with the brain.
 
Do you want sympathy or ...? If you are committed to your goal, then what other "meaning" do you need to find in what you have to do to get there? Just do it.
 
I would suggest doing a PhD in neuroscience or becoming a psychologist.
 
Everything is interconnected. The mind only functions properly when the body does. If you only study the brain, you lose the ability to properly diagnose and treat half of the problems that can occur. Patient comes in lethargic, has little energy, and no motivation for several months and is progressively getting worse and says they think they are depressed. If you lack knowledge about how to rule out every medical condition that can cause those same symptoms (anemia, hypothyroidism, etc.) before you proceed to diagnose depression and hand out an SSRI, then you are no more useful than WebMD.

When it comes to medicine, to become a specialist, you must become a generalist first. That's where your motivation should come from. No matter the specialty, a patient requires their physician to have a solid foundation in everything to get the best care and results possible.
 
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Rumor13 said:
Everything is interconnected. The mind only functions properly when the body does. If you only study the brain, you lose the ability to properly diagnose and treat half of the problems that can occur. Patient comes in lethargic, has little energy, and no motivation for several months and is progressively getting worse and says they think they are depressed. If you lack knowledge about how to rule out every medical condition that can cause those same symptoms (anemia, hypothyroidism, etc.) before you proceed to diagnose depression and had out an SSRI, then you are no more useful than WebMD.

When it comes to medicine, to become a specialist, you must become a generalist first. That's where your motivation should come from. No matter the specialty, a patient requires their physician to have a solid foundation in everything to get the best care and results possible.
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The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.....
 
In all honesty, if you have this kind of problem with medical education, then maybe being a physician isn't for you.
 
In my perspective, even the students who are really interested in the more somatic fields of medicine secretly (or openly) find the majority of med school class material boring. This shouldn't be surprising---there aren't many people who just sit around memorizing biochemical pathways in their free time, even the ones who like science.

It's the actual PRACTICE of medicine that people go to med school for. THAT'S what is interesting and rewarding. Try your best to get interested in the other parts of medicine, but recognize that you're not the only one who finds a lot of the basic science you have to memorize boring.
 
IRONEURON said:
Well, no, I don't want to quit my goal of becoming a psychiatrist. I really want to become one , I'm just a little puzzled about how I'm supposed to find any meaning is studying a lot of the subjects that I need to study, if my goal is to become an expert in the human brain, but a lot of things that I need to study in order to get there have nothing to do with studying what I actually want to study, which is the human brain.
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Back in the days when I was interested in Ophtho, my advisor told me "if you're going to do opthalmology, you're not an expert of the eye. You're an expert in every other possible part of the body that could have manifestations in the eye."

Psych is like that too. You need to understand any and all pathologies that could be affecting mental status.
 
How could you even think about approaching neurology without a thorough understanding of what impacts the brain, and in turn what the brain impacts? When you finish that list you will understand why you need to spend so much time in medical school learning so many things. Medical school is not enough time to get through that list.

You are talking very naively if you think you can get away with not understanding things like metabolism (the energy for the brain and how neurotransmitters get made), anatomy (perception of sensation), pharmacology (what impacts the gut may do strange things to the mind), cell biology (how can a neuron do the actions it does) and so much more.

If you truly want to succeed in medicine you can, but stop assuming you know what is important. Instead ask more questions and learn to view the world through a new perspective! If you can learn to connect information at a higher level you will do much better. I don't mean this criticism in any negative way, just as a blunt reminder that to succeed you have a long road of learning.

Edited for spelling errors.
 
Thank you all for your understanding and for your useful answers.
Now I understand that there is a reason for why I have to study all those.

And for the person who said that maybe I am not made to be a doctor : thanks for your input also, I guess I asked this question myself too. But I WILL become a doctor, I will not quit my dream. I see my mistake ( believing that other areas in medicine are not important ) and I will do my best to make up for it.
Have a nice day !
 
All good stuff. Another thing that helped me was realizing that not having the same passion for every single subject didn't mean that I was in the wrong place. I'm super interested in Genetics and I enjoy every minute of studying for that course. I didn't feel that way about, say, Gen Chem II lab, and at first it was stressing me out, but I learned to just take it for what it was: part of the process. Once I let go of the notion that I needed to be equally enthusiastic about every single subject, I actually started enjoying all of my courses more. That extra layer of pressure went away. I also thought back to getting the degree for my first career. I took courses in subjects I never spent another second thinking about once I started working, but they were opportunities to get general knowledge and a sense of where my chosen focus fit into the bigger picture of my profession. I also knew where to send people when they had problems outside of my field. So, I'd say - take it all in stride and don't worry that you're not doing somersaults over every single subject. You're on the right path for what you want to do.
 
Try having an open mind. You never know when orthopedics or nephrology might bite you on the butt and you'll fall in love.

What if you start taking your neuroscience classes and then decide that you really hate the human brain??


IRONEURON said:
Well, no, I don't want to quit my goal of becoming a psychiatrist. I really want to become one , I'm just a little puzzled about how I'm supposed to find any meaning is studying a lot of the subjects that I need to study, if my goal is to become an expert in the human brain, but a lot of things that I need to study in order to get there have nothing to do with studying what I actually want to study, which is the human brain.
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One of my favorite professors told me once (when I was complaining about studying something I am not interested in) that I do not get to pick and choose what I want to learn about. You have to learn some things you don't care about, and you get to learn about things you care about.

It is tough to learn about something when you don't care but it is something that must be done... :doctor:
 
Doctor4Life1769 said:
This is one big troll thread I feels.
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OP has a very legit point that I struggled with through first year. My major interest through that period was psychiatry, and it was like, "wtf am I even doing learning all this other stuff, omg." Now I'm more open minded and try to pick up a little bit of everything, but trust me, when psych is your biggest interest, med school can be straight up painful. Anatomy was the worst experience ever because of the perspective I carried going into it.
 
Mad Jack said:
OP has a very legit point that I struggled with through first year. My major interest through that period was psychiatry, and it was like, "wtf am I even doing learning all this other stuff, omg." Now I'm more open minded and try to pick up a little bit of everything, but trust me, when psych is your biggest interest, med school can be straight up painful. Anatomy was the worst experience ever because of the perspective I carried going into it.
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Hated anatomy for similar reasons. Now I'm going to be a surgeon. Wish I had gone in with a better attitude...

Jump through the hoops OP. Some of them are actually valuable, and you won't know which are which until later anyways.
 
Mad Jack said:
OP has a very legit point that I struggled with through first year. My major interest through that period was psychiatry, and it was like, "wtf am I even doing learning all this other stuff, omg." Now I'm more open minded and try to pick up a little bit of everything, but trust me, when psych is your biggest interest, med school can be straight up painful. Anatomy was the worst experience ever because of the perspective I carried going into it.
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Anatomy was painful for me because I had to spend every waking moment in the lab after bombing the initial practical (made like a 50-something percent). I did well on the subsequent ones.

I honestly had no idea what I wanted to do with my life so I didn't have that issue.
 
Hangry said:
Hated anatomy for similar reasons. Now I'm going to be a surgeon. Wish I had gone in with a better attitude...

Jump through the hoops OP. Some of them are actually valuable, and you won't know which are which until later anyways.
Click to expand...
Yeah, no idea what I want to do now. Suturing was fun but I'm terrible at it. We'll see how things look in third year...
 
I am sorry to say but you're not taking this seriously and that's a waste. It's true that a great deal of what we do in med school will be of little use later but nonetheless they are necessary and may be helpful according to which specialty you will end up into. I also want to become a psychiatrist or a neurologist, by the way. Now, how can you diagnose when you do not have proper understanding of the pathophysiological process of a condition even if it's of a mental nature. In medicine, everything is connected. If the body is not well the mind/brain cannot work either and vice-versa. If you're asking this question now, it appears that you ended in medicine totally by chance or upon the decision of someone else and that tends to irritate me because you've taken away the opportunity of someone else that could have been one of the greatest but was rejected for so and so reasons. I tend to think that being at medical school is a great honour and opportunity, and not taking it seriously is like being unfair to all those who have been rejected or couldn't make it to the end. It is spitting shamelessly on an opportunity handed to you because they thought of you worthy of this honour. Now, to come up with a train of thought such as yours won't get you far and certainly won't be a motivator to your success in this demanding field. You have to see pass the glamour and glitters and do your best. Good luck.
 
AliT said:
I am sorry to say but you're not taking this seriously and that's a waste. It's true that a great deal of what we do in med school will be of little use later but nonetheless they are necessary and may be helpful according to which specialty you will end up into. I also want to become a psychiatrist or a neurologist, by the way. Now, how can you diagnose when you do not have proper understanding of the pathophysiological process of a condition even if it's of a mental nature. In medicine, everything is connected. If the body is not well the mind/brain cannot work either and vice-versa. If you're asking this question now, it appears that you ended in medicine totally by chance or upon the decision of someone else and that tends to irritate me because you've taken away the opportunity of someone else that could have been one of the greatest but was rejected for so and so reasons. I tend to think that being at medical school is a great honour and opportunity, and not taking it seriously is like being unfair to all those who have been rejected or couldn't make it to the end. It is spitting shamelessly on an opportunity handed to you because they thought of you worthy of this honour. Now, to come up with a train of thought such as yours won't get you far and certainly won't be a motivator to your success in this demanding field. You have to see pass the glamour and glitters and do your best. Good luck.
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Oh good grief.
That horse isn't high enough.
 
Mad Jack said:
Yeah, no idea what I want to do now. Suturing was fun but I'm terrible at it. We'll see how things look in third year...
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tbh, I also came into med school wanting to do psych and I mean I still want to do it. But after enjoying generally a lot of my classes I kinda feel like IM might be a better hole to go down. Idk. Hopefully 2rd year doesn't insert another variable into that haha.

But yah, Idk I like lots of stuff specifically if it's biochemistry heavy and I want to do some procedures. But I kinda want a life. Hard decisions.
 
Drrrrrr. Celty said:
tbh, I also came into med school wanting to do psych and I mean I still want to do it. But after enjoying generally a lot of my classes I kinda feel like IM might be a better hole to go down. Idk. Hopefully 2rd year doesn't insert another variable into that haha.

But yah, Idk I like lots of stuff specifically if it's biochemistry heavy and I want to do some procedures. But I kinda want a life. Hard decisions.
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I'm thinking ICU nowadays, but maybe just hospitalist, who knows. Either one can get me 7 on/7 off (or 14 on/14 off if you're in the right place), giving me a decent work/life balance while also meeting my need for "real" medicine and procedures. Dat debt tho...
 
Mad Jack said:
I'm thinking ICU nowadays, but maybe just hospitalist, who knows. Either one can get me 7 on/7 off (or 14 on/14 off if you're in the right place), giving me a decent work/life balance while also meeting my need for "real" medicine and procedures. Dat debt tho...
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I'm kinda into the idea of endo or Rhuem. I'd probably be happy in A&I and Heme/ Onc but god knows those probably are out of my league.

But yah, same, I kinda want to do "real medicine" and even if that means just doing cortisol injections or focused exams that seems nice. But yah, I know I would hate doing full physicals for a living though, so FM is probably not a good match.
 
Mad Jack said:
I'm thinking ICU nowadays, but maybe just hospitalist, who knows. Either one can get me 7 on/7 off (or 14 on/14 off if you're in the right place), giving me a decent work/life balance while also meeting my need for "real" medicine and procedures. Dat debt tho...
Click to expand...

As a hospitalist you'll be too busy admitting patients and rounding to do procedures. You'll get to do some in the ICU.
Plus, the 7 on is a soul sucking 7 on. And it is not always a 7 on 7 off deal, they'll cut into the off any way they can especially with hospitalists always being short-staffed with the revolving door of hospitalists.

FM is great. You get your general medicine, you don't have to do OB or even babies/Peds if you don't want to after residency, you get plenty of office procedures, and if you want to incorporate hospital and/or nursing home, you can do that too.
 
Drrrrrr. Celty said:
I'm kinda into the idea of endo or Rhuem. I'd probably be happy in A&I and Heme/ Onc but god knows those probably are out of my league.

But yah, same, I kinda want to do "real medicine" and even if that means just doing cortisol injections or focused exams that seems nice. But yah, I know I would hate doing full physicals for a living though, so FM is probably not a good match.
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FM isn't just doing "full physicals"
 
Doctor4Life1769 said:
FM isn't just doing "full physicals"
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Idk anything about anything of what specialties do haha. My school has built me up for this mode of 15 minute full physicals, focused exam, and then omt evaluation + treatment as what FM is.
 
Drrrrrr. Celty said:
I'm kinda into the idea of endo or Rhuem. I'd probably be happy in A&I and Heme/ Onc but god knows those probably are out of my league.

But yah, same, I kinda want to do "real medicine" and even if that means just doing cortisol injections or focused exams that seems nice. But yah, I know I would hate doing full physicals for a living though, so FM is probably not a good match.
Click to expand...
Full physicals are actually pretty sweet if you've got good diagnostic skills. You can tell a whole lot about a person by their fingernails, their skin, fundoscopy, etc. Many will be uneventful, but the ones that uncover something unexpected- those are just delightful.
 
Drrrrrr. Celty said:
Idk anything about anything of what specialties do haha. My school has built me up for this mode of 15 minute full physicals, focused exam, and then omt evaluation + treatment as what FM is.
Click to expand...
I hate to be the one to tell you, but they teach you all of that and then you just gradually abridge it every year after first year. The only time you're ever doing a full physical exam on a patient is... Oh wait, never. You're doing a focused physical for the rest of your life unless you're working up an executive that paid you piles of cash. In second year, our physicals are half as long as first year (we have 12 minutes to do a full H&P plus OSE).
 
Mad Jack said:
I hate to be the one to tell you, but they teach you all of that and then you just gradually abridge it every year after first year. The only time you're ever doing a full physical exam on a patient is... Oh wait, never. You're doing a focused physical for the rest of your life unless you're working up an executive that paid you piles of cash. In second year, our physicals are half as long as first year (we have 12 minutes to do a full H&P plus OSE).
Click to expand...

Yah, I imagined that being the case. Idk, so far I'm awful at standardized patients. I don't remember their little details because I end up being too focused on thinking about what to do next or whether or not I'm asking the right questions.
 
Drrrrrr. Celty said:
Yah, I imagined that being the case. Idk, so far I'm awful at standardized patients. I don't remember their little details because I end up being too focused on thinking about what to do next or whether or not I'm asking the right questions.
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Standardized patients and real patients are nothing alike, don't worry about it.
 
Doctor4Life1769 said:
As a hospitalist you'll be too busy admitting patients and rounding to do procedures. You'll get to do some in the ICU.
Plus, the 7 on is a soul sucking 7 on. And it is not always a 7 on 7 off deal, they'll cut into the off any way they can especially with hospitalists always being short-staffed with the revolving door of hospitalists.

FM is great. You get your general medicine, you don't have to do OB or even babies/Peds if you don't want to after residency, you get plenty of office procedures, and if you want to incorporate hospital and/or nursing home, you can do that too.
Click to expand...
I have flip-flopped on it. I still feel like the hospital is my home at the end of the day, outpatient medicine just puts me to sleep. But FM is still on the table for the flexibility... Ugh, why do I have to choose?

OP, you'll have all sorts of fun dealing with these sorts of dilemmas in the future. Trust me, what you think you want might not be what you actually want at the end of the day. Med school changes you.
 
Mad Jack said:
Standardized patients and real patients are nothing alike, don't worry about it.
Click to expand...


Thank you 🙂. I've left at least 2 SPs not wanting to be a doctor anymore honestly. So the fact that it's different is encouraging.
 
Drrrrrr. Celty said:
Yah, I imagined that being the case. Idk, so far I'm awful at standardized patients. I don't remember their little details because I end up being too focused on thinking about what to do next or whether or not I'm asking the right questions.
Click to expand...

That's the inherent flaw of using standardized patients that a lot of my friends trip up on. Because you know the patient isn't real and you know you are being graded, you end up not going with the natural flow interactions with real patients almost always take and you hyper focus on proper protocol because you know at the end there is no medical mystery to be solved. You end up stressing yourself out and making yourself more forgetful and awkward than if you were with a real patient because with a real patient, you can't ever be perfect. With a standardized patient however, perfection is a possibility and that goal blinds a lot of students.
 
Drrrrrr. Celty said:
Thank you 🙂. I've left at least 2 SPs not wanting to be a doctor anymore honestly. So the fact that it's different is encouraging.
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I was a clinician for 6 years prior to medical school. SPs are still awkward for me, because I know I'm acting, and they're acting, and it's all fake. It just doesn't feel natural and I can't sit right with it. I was one of those guys that patients would write management about saying how awesome I was back in the day, but with an SP, I just can't function right at all. So don't worry, it's not you, it's the situation. It's weird, it's unnatural, and honestly, they shouldn't be putting us through it- we should be working with real people like they used to back in the day.
 
Mad Jack said:
OP has a very legit point that I struggled with through first year. My major interest through that period was psychiatry, and it was like, "wtf am I even doing learning all this other stuff, omg." Now I'm more open minded and try to pick up a little bit of everything, but trust me, when psych is your biggest interest, med school can be straight up painful. Anatomy was the worst experience ever because of the perspective I carried going into it.
Click to expand...
Well, thanks for the sympathy, although I didn't came here to get sympathy , as the other user thought.
I came here for solutions.
There were users who gave very good answers and I'm following their advice. I thanked them.
The rest, who continues saying that I'm not made to be a doctor : I couldn't care less. I know what mission I've chose and I'm not quitting it. I am very self-confident and no one is going to change that.
 
Hangry said:
Hated anatomy for similar reasons. Now I'm going to be a surgeon. Wish I had gone in with a better attitude...

Jump through the hoops OP. Some of them are actually valuable, and you won't know which are which until later anyways.
Click to expand...
Thank you ! You are so right !
 
Hang in there, OP. You don't have to love everything you learn in medical school. But as one of the prior posters said, try to have a positive attitude and learn as much as you can about all of medicine so that you have a strong basis of knowledge, and so that you become the best overall physician you're capable of being. Make it a game where you try to connect whatever you're learning to the brain and psychiatry. This will obviously be more of a challenge with some of your studies than others, but it's a good exercise and will help keep you sharp and motivated. After all, a future psychiatrist should understand better than anyone that everything in medicine is interrelated on some level. 🙂
 
IRONEURON said:
Well, thanks for the sympathy, although I didn't came here to get sympathy , as the other user thought.
I came here for solutions.
There were users who gave very good answers and I'm following their advice. I thanked them.
The rest, who continues saying that I'm not made to be a doctor : I couldn't care less. I know what mission I've chose and I'm not quitting it. I am very self-confident and no one is going to change that.
Click to expand...

Now that's the spirit my friend!!! That's how you gonna make it through this thing. There are things you will like and detest along the way which you previously liked, and vice versa. All med students go through it so don't worry just give yourself the time to mature. Don't worry about all those that are saying you're not cut for it unlike them you have and been having an idea of what you want to do later and that before even entering med school. And that is a powerful motivator. You determine your destiny and not them. You CAN do this. If you're at med school then you deserved to be here like everyone else. Keep this positive spirit, surround yourself at school and in your family with positive people, cut off from your life the negativity and you'll notice a major difference. Now, go break through these doors because you're definitely a winner. There was a time Einstein was mediocre at school and turned out to be one of the best scientist of all times, same goes for Dr. Ben Carson and now he is one of the top Neurosurgeons in the world, just food for thoughts... Good luck again!
 
AliT said:
Now that's the spirit my friend!!! That's how you gonna make it through this thing. There are things you will like and detest along the way which you previously liked, and vice versa. All med students go through it so don't worry just give yourself the time to mature. Don't worry about all those that are saying you're not cut for it unlike them you have and been having an idea of what you want to do later and that before even entering med school. And that is a powerful motivator. You determine your destiny and not them. You CAN do this. If you're at med school then you deserved to be here like everyone else. Keep this positive spirit, surround yourself at school and in your family with positive people, cut off from your life the negativity and you'll notice a major difference. Now, go break through these doors because you're definitely a winner. There was a time Einstein was mediocre at school and turned out to be one of the best scientist of all times, same goes for Dr. Ben Carson and now he is one of the top Neurosurgeons in the world, just food for thoughts... Good luck again!
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I appreciate your answer very much ! Thank You !
Yes, we need determined and strong spirits in this world , so we have to become ones !
I wish you a lot of success on your path also !
Be Great !
 
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