Personal Qualities of a Psychiatrist

[Darkskies]

Hi,
I am a pre-med and I was wondering what skills are necessary to be a successful psychiatrist. I am assuming that good communication skills are a must. Can these be learned during residency? Are psychiatry residencies generally non-malignant? Similarly, are Psychiatrists, as a rule, nicer/more empathetic people? The impression that I have of Psychiatrists as being warmer, more sympathetic individuals is one of the main reasons that I am attracted to the field. I also enjoy the fact that I would be able to have the opportunity to speak with patients at length and be able to sort out their psycho-social problems when many others would rather shun them. Lastly, Is the medicine associated with psychiatry less concrete than in other fields or is this just a stereotype that people use to badmouth the field?

Thanks in advance!
Darkskies

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[Darkskies]

I hope I'm not irritating anyone by bumping this up but I would really like it if someone would answer my questions.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I hope I'm not irritating anyone by bumping this up but I would really like it if someone would answer my questions.

I think that at least a few of your questions could be answered by reading through some of the older threads in this forum...

 

[Darkskies]

I think that at least a few of your questions could be answered by reading through some of the older threads in this forum...

I apologize. I actually have used the search function and read through many threads concerning the topics in my questions. However, apart from my final question(which you can all omit because I realize now that trying to answer it would require a gigantic post) I haven't really been able to find detailed answers to my queries. I suppose the questions I would really like answered are my first few, namely what skills should a prospective Psychiatrist have and whether good communication skills can be learned during residency.

 

[smellies]

good communication skills... you have two ears and a mouth, yes?...ah then, u should be fine!

 

[hippiedoc13]

It's great that you're interested in psychiatry. Welcome.

Hang around this forum for a while, follow the discussions, and you'll start to get some sense of the issues we grapple with and a little of what our jobs entail.

I wonder whether your unspoken question is actually "Do *I* have the personal qualities necessary to be a good psychiatrist?" or maybe it is "I want to be a psychiatrist, so how should I go about developing the necessary qualities?" If either of those is what you're *really* wondering, then they are both good questions.

If any of the above is true, then my advice to you is this: From your pre-med status I assume you are still in undergrad. Study something you are passionate about besides science. Work. Read broadly. Travel. Get out there in the world and have varied experiences and get to know all sorts of different people. Cultivate your relationships. Get out of your comfort zone on a regular basis. All of these things will be a part of becoming an empathic, open-minded, practical, flexible person who understands real life and knows how to relate to others with different life experiences. That, to me, is the core of being a doctor in general, but especially a psychiatrist.

 

[Moki]

It's great that you're interested in psychiatry. Welcome.

Hang around this forum for a while, follow the discussions, and you'll start to get some sense of the issues we grapple with and a little of what our jobs entail.

I wonder whether your unspoken question is actually "Do *I* have the personal qualities necessary to be a good psychiatrist?" or maybe it is "I want to be a psychiatrist, so how should I go about developing the necessary qualities?" If either of those is what you're *really* wondering, then they are both good questions.

If any of the above is true, then my advice to you is this: From your pre-med status I assume you are still in undergrad. Study something you are passionate about besides science. Work. Read broadly. Travel. Get out there in the world and have varied experiences and get to know all sorts of different people. Cultivate your relationships. Get out of your comfort zone on a regular basis. All of these things will be a part of becoming an empathic, open-minded, practical, flexible person who understands real life and knows how to relate to others with different life experiences. That, to me, is the core of being a doctor in general, but especially a psychiatrist.

Excellent post.

 

[peppy]

I agree with hippiedoc's advice as well. Sure, I do find it helpful to see how more experienced psychiatrists interview patients in order to pick up little tips and tricks on how to interview. However, just being a well-rounded person who can talk to a wide range of people (including being comfortable around segments of society such as the homeless, drug addicts, criminals, etc.) is a big part of psychiatry. That's a skill you can acquire just from getting out there and living life. I would also suggest considering volunteer opportunities in settings like hospice or a homeless shelter to work on listening/empathy skills that will come in handy in psych.

I would say the majority of psychiatrists are nice folks who are in no way malignant, but there are exceptions to every generalization. There are psychiatrists out there who are arrogant and malignant. I feel like our field has more than its share of eccentric people because sometimes people who are mentally ill are attracted to the field (but no, not everyone who goes into psych is "weird"). I personally wouldn't pick a field of medicine based on an idea of what kind of person does that specialty - just try to figure out what you like.

 

[Manicsleep]

Facial hair.

Yes, even if you're female.

 

[Psychiatrypd]

Being a patient person is really important. You need to deal with people when they are at some of the worst times of their lives and they are angry, depressed, yelling, fearful, and all sorts of other things. It takes a long time to get at what is really bothering them. I would suggest you start by volunteering in a psych hospital. You will get contact with psych patients and see if you really like helping them

 

[Encephalopathy]

Hi,
I am a pre-med and I was wondering what skills are necessary to be a successful psychiatrist. I am assuming that good communication skills are a must. Can these be learned during residency? Are psychiatry residencies generally non-malignant? Similarly, are Psychiatrists, as a rule, nicer/more empathetic people? The impression that I have of Psychiatrists as being warmer, more sympathetic individuals is one of the main reasons that I am attracted to the field. I also enjoy the fact that I would be able to have the opportunity to speak with patients at length and be able to sort out their psycho-social problems when many others would rather shun them. Lastly, Is the medicine associated with psychiatry less concrete than in other fields or is this just a stereotype that people use to badmouth the field?

Thanks in advance!
Darkskies

Good communication skills - yes. You may learn some tricks in residency, but for the most part you can practice communication anytime you talk to someone.

Residencies generally nonmalignant - generally yes, in my experience, especially compared to certain specialties.

Psychiatrists, as a rule, nicer/more empathic - as a rule, no. But that's the hope.

More time to talk to patients, psychosocial issues - yes.

Medicine associated with psychiatry less concrete - the brain is a lot more complicated than a pump or a filter. So psychopharmacology is naturally going to be more complicated, and therefore more theoretical.

 

[ClinPsycMasters]

Of the psychiatrists I work with, one really stands out. He is very firm and strong minded (not particularly dominant), sensitive and compassionate, open-minded, very skilled at communication (picking up subtle cues), respectful, flexible, curious, and very enthusiastic.

A few psychiatrists I work with are either arrogant, have lost their zeal and just go through the motions, are surprisingly bad at communication and patronizing not to mention disrespectful, and inattentive.

The rest are somewhere in-between.

 

[indya]

to be a therapist you have to have people skills. it depends on what you want to do. if you want to go into research, no, you don't need to be able to talk to anyone empathetically.

 

[dl2dp2]

to be a therapist you have to have people skills. it depends on what you want to do. if you want to go into research, no, you don't need to be able to talk to anyone empathetically.

This is not quite true, since in many research/trials, you still interact/diagnose/stratify patients on a daily basis. However, I think it is worth noting that the stereotype of the classic psych doc of being "empathic/talking" is not completely true. Most of the community psychopharmacologists I'm familiar with don't necessarily talk to their patients any more than a primary care doctor. And psychoanalysts talk to people in a specific way that's not really "communication" per se.

I think being a doctor in general requires good communication skills, and being a psychiatrist requires being attentive to certain issues that are more specialized, but I don't think you need to be more or less "touchy feely" as a personality trait to be a good psychiatrist. To a certain extent it may be harder to be a surgeon/proceduralist interpersonally compared to being a psychiatrist, because in that case you would always be in a team and have to deal with the complex team dynamics. In psychiatry, your job is more individualized and personal.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

... To a certain extent it may be harder to be a surgeon/proceduralist interpersonally compared to being a psychiatrist, because in that case you would always be in a team and have to deal with the complex team dynamics. In psychiatry, your job is more individualized and personal.

You can make the job more "individualized and personal" if you want, I suppose--but there are MANY jobs in psych that involve team leadership and dealing with "complex team dynamics"* even moreso than one does as a proceduralist.

*Oh if only I could share with you the email exchange I had to deal with on Friday!

 

[hippiedoc13]

to be a therapist you have to have people skills. it depends on what you want to do. if you want to go into research, no, you don't need to be able to talk to anyone empathetically.

Unfortunately this is a bit under-informed.

If you are any kind of physician, even if all you ultimately do is psychopharm management or research, I still challenge you to get much useful information or insight from a patient if you don't have empathic communication skills. And if you can't elicit good information, then you won't be able to make the best decisions regarding med mgmt, or conduct the highest-quality research and draw the most accurate conclusions.

Also, I happen to be at a residency program where we have a dedicated research track. Even our full-fledged "research residents" do 2 years of full-time clinical psychiatry residency, and a third year at about 50-60% clinical time. When we get a research resident who does not possess the requisite empathic communication skills (which happens every once in a while), it's an extremely painful experience all-around--for the resident, their patients, and their colleagues/team members.

Really, there is not a single place in medicine where good communication skills are unnecessary.

 

[Sirimboi]

I think the most important thing I learned was how to listen to people in a nonjudgmental manner. We do not get as many “Thank You” notes as our colleagues in internal medicine due to the nature of the illnesses we deal with in psychiatry, but one shake of hand from one of my patients with chronic substance abuse will stay with me forever. “Thank you, doctor”, he said, “Thank you for not judging me”.