patient population

[Smitty]

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I'm a 4th year student considering pysch, but still not completely sure. I'm really interested in psych from an academic viewpoint, but when I start thinking about dealing with borderlines, drug-seekers, and kids with "conduct disorder" I get a queesy feeling in my stomach. However, I think that other patient populations like depressed patients, schizophrenics, etc. are very interesting and I like the idea of trying my best to help. For all you psych residents out there, honestly how much of an issue is this? Thanks.

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"If there's one thing Dr. Atkins taught us, it's that we're all gonna die!"
Ruby Ann Boxcar-"Ruby Ann's Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook"

 

[purpledoc]

I'm a 4th year student considering pysch, but still not completely sure. I'm really interested in psych from an academic viewpoint, but when I start thinking about dealing with borderlines, drug-seekers, and kids with "conduct disorder" I get a queesy feeling in my stomach. However, I think that other patient populations like depressed patients, schizophrenics, etc. are very interesting and I like the idea of trying my best to help. For all you psych residents out there, honestly how much of an issue is this? Thanks.

As a previous psych resident 🙂 I would say that it isn't much of an issue. You'll learn how to deal with personality disorders during your residency, and getting a "queasy feeling" right now is probably a normal reaction. Now, if you so violently abhor borderlines or drug-seekers that you don't think you could treat them at all, even temporarily during your residency, that is a problem, since you don't get to pick and choose. But if you simply don't want to work with those populations after residency, you can certainly make choices to minimize (or eliminate) your exposure to that population.

...And you never know what patients you might actually get to like!

Peace,
Purpledoc

 

[Big Lebowski]

Borderlines, despite all the difficulties, can be quite interesting and rewarding to treat....given you have good ancillary staff. I felt the same way when starting psych residency and I have found that there are good Borderlines and bad Borderlines, and all have the possibility of getting better.

As for drug seekers....you'll have a hard time avoiding those in most fields anyway, particularly if you were to do primary care.