Marriage counseling?

[MedStudentWanna]

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Do many psychiatrists do a lot of marriage/relationship counseling or do they generally leave that to psychologists? I want to be a doctor and I'm extremely interested in psychiatry, but I'd love to (sub)specialize in marriage counseling. I haven't seen any kind of fellowships or anything related to that so I'm curious.

 

[50960]

There are marriage counsellor MA level people in most states who do most of this type of work.

 

[Doc Samson]

Do many psychiatrists do a lot of marriage/relationship counseling or do they generally leave that to psychologists? I want to be a doctor and I'm extremely interested in psychiatry, but I'd love to (sub)specialize in marriage counseling. I haven't seen any kind of fellowships or anything related to that so I'm curious.

Couple's therapy is certainly a practice option available to psychiatrists. Having some couples in your caseload certainly adds some spice to the mix... you certainly don't have to do as much talking as you do with individual tx.

 

[outofhere]

Do many psychiatrists do a lot of marriage/relationship counseling or do they generally leave that to psychologists? I want to be a doctor and I'm extremely interested in psychiatry, but I'd love to (sub)specialize in marriage counseling. I haven't seen any kind of fellowships or anything related to that so I'm curious.

I recently started working with a couple as part of my residency- and I LOVE IT! It is so great, to hear both sides of the story, and all that juicy/behind the door stuff just come spilling out! I have found that it is hard for me to get the whole picture when I am working on ind therapy, and trying to remain intrapsychic is sometimes difficult for me. Working with couples, I get to hear both sides, ask for clarification, and truly see that no one is ALL evil, or ALL good.

I think psychiatrists don't do couple's work very freq because it is hard to get exp in training. And, a lot of psychiatrists really like the ind intrapsychic stuff.

Highly recommend getting such an experience as a resident if you can.

 

[Anuwolf]

I never heard of Psychiatrists doing any kind of counseling... All they do is check off stuffs on their sheets... listen to the symptoms of their patients... diagnose them... give them SSRI's and recieve a paycheck 😀

 

[MedStudentWanna]

I recently started working with a couple as part of my residency- and I LOVE IT! It is so great, to hear both sides of the story, and all that juicy/behind the door stuff just come spilling out! I have found that it is hard for me to get the whole picture when I am working on ind therapy, and trying to remain intrapsychic is sometimes difficult for me. Working with couples, I get to hear both sides, ask for clarification, and truly see that no one is ALL evil, or ALL good.

I think psychiatrists don't do couple's work very freq because it is hard to get exp in training. And, a lot of psychiatrists really like the ind intrapsychic stuff.

Highly recommend getting such an experience as a resident if you can.

Thanks. Would you mind telling me how to go about getting that experience? Is that something you asked for or did your attending or chief resident just assign you to a couple? Is it something you could build your practice around? And are there some psychology programs maybe that would help a licensed psychiatrist learn how to do couples counseling?

 

[50960]

There are lots of opportunities to get trained in this form of therapy depending on where you live. Here in Ca. I could choose 5 universities within 50 miles who have great CME/CEU programs (UC Berkeley, JFK univ etc..) where any mental health professional can get extra training in this sort of thing. My question is why become a psychiatrist if you want to do couples work? It is not easy work to do, and one needs to be skilled to do it, but there is little medicine involved in most cases, and little management of meds as this would not be really your appropriate role as a couples therapist. I would look up local CME/CEU opportunities in your area.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

There are lots of opportunities to get trained in this form of therapy depending on where you live. Here in Ca. I could choose 5 universities within 50 miles who have great CME/CEU programs (UC Berkeley, JFK univ etc..) where any mental health professional can get extra training in this sort of thing. My question is why become a psychiatrist if you want to do couples work? It is not easy work to do, and one needs to be skilled to do it, but there is little medicine involved in most cases, and little management of meds as this would not be really your appropriate role as a couples therapist. I would look up local CME/CEU opportunities in your area.

Thanks. I want to go to medical school because my primary love is medicine. I don't want to open a practice that consists solely of couples work. It's just an area of interest. My minor in college is psychology and the whole subject fascinates me, but I want to be a doctor first and foremost, so psychiatry seems like a great fit.

 

[outofhere]

Thanks. Would you mind telling me how to go about getting that experience? Is that something you asked for or did your attending or chief resident just assign you to a couple? Is it something you could build your practice around? And are there some psychology programs maybe that would help a licensed psychiatrist learn how to do couples counseling?

CME and stuff is great for theoretical learning. To get in the trenches, experiential learning is a must. I have this opportunity because we rotate through university/college student mental health as part of my program. These rotations for us, is mainly for short-term therapy. We do very little meds on these rotations. I am strongly encouraged by all my supverisors, my RD, to find a couple to work with.

As for why I like it, well, I find that meds don't fix everything, that meds may raise the ceiling, but feelings/thoughts/emotions, the unconscious, drive so much of what we do, and I find these things to be more interesting then psychopharm.

Why become a psychiatrist for this? Well, I enjoy variaty and I think it is important to be able to take care of the WHOLE person, meds, psychotherapy, all in one!

 

[maranatha]

As for why I like it, well, I find that meds don't fix everything, that meds may raise the ceiling, but feelings/thoughts/emotions, the unconscious, drive so much of what we do, and I find these things to be more interesting then psychopharm.

Why become a psychiatrist for this? Well, I enjoy variaty and I think it is important to be able to take care of the WHOLE person, meds, psychotherapy, all in one!

So where are the psychiatry programs that have this approach????? I'm applying right now...I'd ask where you are, but i'm sure you don't want to reveal too much?

 

[prominence]

great thread. bump.

 

[Doc Samson]

So where are the psychiatry programs that have this approach????? I'm applying right now...I'd ask where you are, but i'm sure you don't want to reveal too much?

Covered in multiple other threads, but in short - the northeast and the west coast +/- a few exceptions in both directions.