Learn Psychiatry

[dotty]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I have many questions as someone who has consideration for this field.

Is it recommended to have seen a psychiatrist before going into psychiatry as a profession?

Someone told me they require therapy sessions for trainees in different programs, is this true? Would I have to be in therapy during a psychiatry residency?

Are psychiatrist still doing therapy sessions for patients? I thought they deal with medications mostly and the rest is dealt with psychologists and social workers.

Is it true that the best psychiatrists are the ones that have tried the medications themselves? Do many psychiatrists take medications (nature of the field)?

If a physician has a mental illness or drug/alcohol abuse history, are they more likely to be accepted in the field of psychiatry?

Does anyone have an idea of the percentage of medical students/residents/physicians that take psychotropic medications? Does it affect their performance in any way? Are they bound to have difficulty with memory or inefficiency in practice.

If someone wants to be an excellent caring psychiatrist, are they able to separate work life from home life easily. I've heard spouses of psychiatrists can become irritated by the psychiatry talk at home, is this true. Does a good psychiatrist have difficulty socializing with the rest of the world because they analyze too much?

An excellent psychiatrist has what traits and characteristics? (communication skills? analysis skills? past psychiatric history and therapy? etc?)

Thank you for your comments and assistance.

 

[Anasazi23]

I have many questions as someone who has consideration for this field.

Is it recommended to have seen a psychiatrist before going into psychiatry as a profession?

Not particularly... unless you feel you need it.

Someone told me they require therapy sessions for trainees in different programs, is this true? Would I have to be in therapy during a psychiatry residency?

Not usually. Some programs may require this. I can't name any offhand. Others might know from their programs.

Are psychiatrist still doing therapy sessions for patients? I thought they deal with medications mostly and the rest is dealt with psychologists and social workers.

Yes. Some do. Many are too busy so ship out therapy to social workers and psychologists.

Is it true that the best psychiatrists are the ones that have tried the medications themselves? Do many psychiatrists take medications (nature of the field)?

No evidence for this.

If a physician has a mental illness or drug/alcohol abuse history, are they more likely to be accepted in the field of psychiatry?

No.

Does anyone have an idea of the percentage of medical students/residents/physicians that take psychotropic medications? Does it affect their performance in any way? Are they bound to have difficulty with memory or inefficiency in practice.

What are you taking? It depends.

If someone wants to be an excellent caring psychiatrist, are they able to separate work life from home life easily. I've heard spouses of psychiatrists can become irritated by the psychiatry talk at home, is this true. Does a good psychiatrist have difficulty socializing with the rest of the world because they analyze too much?

No to the last part. Psychiatrists are regular people, and regular physicians. They don't invest every waking second of their social lives analyzing other people any more than a surgeon looks for bulging hernias underneath the shirts of ladies at wal-mart. They don't talk about psychiatry at home any more than an internest talks about thier diabetic patient with cellulitis at home (presumably).

An excellent psychiatrist has what traits and characteristics? (communication skills? analysis skills? past psychiatric history and therapy? etc?)

Intelligence, patience, "psychologically minded," open mindedness, analytical thinker, able to distance oneself yet remain empathetic, endurance, good memory, strong verbal skills, strong medical background, debonair, suave and ability to handle a Sig Sauer P226 pistol with alarming accuracy, among many others.

 

[PsychMD]

and ability to handle a Sig Sauer P226 pistol with alarming accuracy, among many others.

I always KNEW there was something slightly lacking in my background which led to occasional self-doubts re. whether I was REALLY cut-out for this field, but I could never identify until now with much precision what was that nagging specific something until you pointed it out here. Now I FINALLY know what I have to do to remediate...Thanks for the collegial mentorship, Anasazi; they never really tell you that kind of useful stuff during supervision in residency training!

 

[Anasazi23]

No problem. It's a commonly overlooked aspect of complete psychiatric residency training...in addition of course to the full attainment of ninja master.

We are talented folks. 😀

 

[Milo]

<sniff> phewww, who tracked in the scientology?

 

[Anasazi23]

I had a dream two nights ago that I somehow went to a scientology party, where the house had a huge tropical fish tank that encompassed the back wall. The fish tank was tall and wide but only the thickness of an average wall. There was a kitchen with an open window next to a glass-sliding door just to the left of the door and kitchen. Just outside the glass-sliding door, there was a stream. If you would have stepped through the door, you would have fallen into the stream.

In the middle of the party, I began arguing with the scientologists about their misguided and inaccurate views of mental illness. While that was happening, OTHER tropical fish started flying through the window of the kitchen onto the counter...presumably jumping from the stream outside. I was confused as to how tropical fish would wind up in a streatm, and figured someone must have dumped their tank into the stream. I frantically started racing around yelling "save these fish, get water into bowls!" But nobody cared or moved.

I wound up dumping most of the fish into their large fishtank, but took one fish home for myself.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I wound up dumping most of the fish into their large fishtank, but took one fish home for myself.

Hmmm...tell me about your mother's aquarium...

Hope you have some analytic supervision coming up soon, buddy.

 

[Anasazi23]

I don't recall my mother ever having an aquarium...if you meant that literally. The aquarium in the dream was presumably the scientologists'.

You're starting to make nervous. Think I need some analytical supervision? 😉 What analytical bent do you see out of this dream? I had read an article a couple weeks ago about Tom Cruise and his bashing of psychiatry. So there must have been some subconscious loading. I wonder what the fish represent. 😕

 

[psychgeek]

No problem. It's a commonly overlooked aspect of complete psychiatric residency training...in addition of course to the full attainment of ninja master.

We are talented folks. 😀

As a psychology student I feel it necessary to point out that there is no empirical evidence substantiating psychiatrists’ claims of ninja mastery or the “alarming accuracy” with which they wield their pistols. In fact, in the only large scale study to date psychiatrists’ performance on these tasks was comparable to that of psychologists provided they were supervised by Jean Claude Van Damme or Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid. In addition, psychologists’ performance on other important mental health tasks (like Jedi mind control and hovercraft maintenance) exceeded that of the psychiatrists.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I don't recall my mother ever having an aquarium...if you meant that literally. The aquarium in the dream was presumably the scientologists'.

You're starting to make nervous. Think I need some analytical supervision? 😉 What analytical bent do you see out of this dream? I had read an article a couple weeks ago about Tom Cruise and his bashing of psychiatry. So there must have been some subconscious loading. I wonder what the fish represent. 😕

The fish seem to represent your patients. Their situation seems tenuous and fragile, and they are imprisoned by the scientologists' ravings. Your arrival brings hope to the fishes, so much so that many more fishes are drawn to your advocacy. Alas, the patient load is overwhelming, and you are able to save only one fish...

Welcome to PGY2.

(I know it's BS, but it's at least as good as the real analytic BS...)

 

[Anasazi23]

Great post. 👍 I'll take it as a compliment (I think).

Thanks for the input. You're good at this.