I'm supposed to be a neonatologist...

[LadyJubilee8_18]

but...I like psych. I came to medical school wanting to be a pediatrician and then to do neo, and I really love neo...but psych keeps creeping into the back of my mind. Its so interesting, and it almost seems too enjoyable to be considered a job. What if I want to be a psychiatrist instead of a pediatrician? Did anyone else have to struggle against what they felt they should be doing in their decision to become a psychiatrist? I guess I'm just weighing the two possible career choices. I'm about to do neo research (hopefully) and I've all but set up my pedi sub-I, so if I do decide psych at the last minute my resume will be all wrong for it.

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[OldPsychDoc]

but...I like psych. I came to medical school wanting to be a pediatrician and then to do neo, and I really love neo...but psych keeps creeping into the back of my mind. Its so interesting, and it almost seems too enjoyable to be considered a job. What if I want to be a psychiatrist instead of a pediatrician? Did anyone else have to struggle against what they felt they should be doing in their decision to become a psychiatrist? I guess I'm just weighing the two possible career choices. I'm about to do neo research (hopefully) and I've all but set up my pedi sub-I, so if I do decide psych at the last minute my resume will be all wrong for it.

Shhhhh---don't let the other specialties know...

There is no "wrong resume" for psych--except to pretend you want psych when you really don't. We'll be happy to have you.

(BTW--would it matter to you if you ended up making more money than a pediatrician? )

 

[michaelrack]

you could combine your interests. I've seen adds for an infant psychiatry fellowship based somewhere in Lousiana, I think Tulane

 

[LadyJubilee8_18]

you could combine your interests. I've seen adds for an infant psychiatry fellowship based somewhere in Lousiana, I think Tulane

Infant psychiatry? How is that even possible?

 

[LadyJubilee8_18]

Shhhhh---don't let the other specialties know...

There is no "wrong resume" for psych--except to pretend you want psych when you really don't. We'll be happy to have you.

(BTW--would it matter to you if you ended up making more money than a pediatrician? )

neonatologists do pretty well. I know pedi isn't the most glamorous job money wise, but kids are so much better than adults! I'm going to take a pedi psych elective when I get the time. The only problem is that seeing kids who were mistreated and abused just hurts my heart. You'd think it would be too depressing to do forever.

I told my family that I might want to do psych and they were like "I thought you were going to be a real doctor." and "weren't you going to take care of the kids in the family?" Yeah, pretty warm reception. I wish psych wasn't so stigmatized.

 

[diosa428]

You could always triple board.

 

[2tall]

neonatologists do pretty well. I know pedi isn't the most glamorous job money wise, but kids are so much better than adults! I'm going to take a pedi psych elective when I get the time. The only problem is that seeing kids who were mistreated and abused just hurts my heart. You'd think it would be too depressing to do forever.

I told my family that I might want to do psych and they were like "I thought you were going to be a real doctor." and "weren't you going to take care of the kids in the family?" Yeah, pretty warm reception. I wish psych wasn't so stigmatized.

got a similar reception from dear old dad. i just look at it as an opportunity to educate those closest to me.

while I am attracted to various aspects of medicine, psych is just a better fit. i think there's a reason we're interested in things. i think it leads us where we're meant to be.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

you could combine your interests. I've seen adds for an infant psychiatry fellowship based somewhere in Lousiana, I think Tulane

I think it is out of LSU's Health Sciences Center. They have an inter-disciplinary team that specializes in infants and young children. Here is a link to their Fellowship.

 

[michaelrack]

Infant psychiatry? How is that even possible?

I'm not sure, but maybe it focuses on treating the mother-infant dyad. Hopefully meds aren't involved (for the infant)

 

[oldbearprofessor]

I hope you'll not mind a guest comment. I am quite familiar with the program being discussed. Although someone who has done it can directly comment, it is a program designed to deal with the particular problems of high-risk young infants. It has a strong component of working on things like bonding issues and behavior issues in families where the infant was in the NICU for a long-period of time, etc. It's not about psychotherapy for neonates.. They are involved also in research related to adjustment problems in infants and small children who have severe chronic health problems. Again, those directly involved can comment.

LadyJ - your interests also cross over a bit into developmental and behavioral pediatrics. I'd suggest you need to fundamentally decide not about neo vs psych but about pedi vs psych (or triple board, as was mentioned). If you decide pedi you have time to decide about neo vs developmental or other specialties, etc. If you decide psych, well, the folks on this board can guide you on how to choose subspecialties or areas of expertise.

Good luck!

Oh by the way, deciding between pedi vs psych is a common dilemma. Both are great fields and don't let anyone say differently to you. Child psych would have unquestionably been my only alternative to pedi. I just didn't want to see adult psych patients, even during residency.

okay, I'll retreat to pedi now....

 

[DrIng]

A mentor of mine suggested the "bread and butter" approach to choosing a speciality- namely you should choose to go into an area based on what you'll be doing every day not the rare case. So you go into neurology being interested in hearing about people's seizures or headaches not because you want to write case studies like Oliver Sacks... So going into psych you've really got to like talking to people and hearing about their problems and preferably be fascinated questions like what is the nature of conciousness etc.
Most people (i.e. family) will get over the stigma of psychiatry in a surprisingly short period of time...