Psych and anesthesia

[chocomorsel]

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Having a hard time deciding between the two. I really like taking care of the mentally ill and see quite a need for psychiatrists. It's really rewarding to see a severely decompensated psychiatric patient get better, even though many times it's only temporary. Maybe some of that stems from my family history. I have a schizophrenic mom so I have seen some psych issues off and on growing up.
But I also loved the SICU (although a little scary) anesthesia and would love to be an anesthesia intensivist. So I'm kinda stuck.

The lifestyle is good in both. In psychiatry I believe it's more a mental challenge while in anesthesia more of an intellectual challenge. But both are challenging in their own way.

So guys gimme your (of cours ) biased opinions. I'm posting this on the anesthesia forum as well.

Thanks in advance.

 

[billypilgrim37]

I can see an overlap in the two fields, especially with regards to a general love for pharmacology.

Your reason for considering psychiatry as one of your career choices is definitely honorable and necessary. You find the plight of folks with mentally ill to be worthy of your efforts. While that compassion is necessary, it may not be a sufficient reason to justify a career in psychiatry. The next question you might want to ask yourself is whether psychiatric illnesses themselves interest the intellectual chunks of your brain. Do you think schizophrenia is interesting only because you've had personal experience with it, or because you also think the neuroscience and pharmacology associated with it is pretty darn neat?

Either way, I'm sure you could become an outstanding, compassionate psychiatrist. But if the science of psychiatry doesn't particularly interest you, then the field may not be as rewarding as something that might be more intellectually appealing, if anesthesia ICU fits the bill for you. That definitely sounds like a stimulating field in general.

Which isn't to say I wouldn't root for you to come join the Psychiatry team 😀 It's just that so many people have experience with mental illness, and only some of those people necessarily do themselves and others a favor by pursuing psychiatry as a career.

 

[maranatha]

Both fields are great.

I'd suggest writing a personal statement for both programs and see if you find a passion emerge that is stronger for one field versus the other.

I'm sure you'll make the right choice and can't go wrong with either field.

Best of luck.

 

[PsychMD2100]

I considered both fields and was fascinated by them in equal intellectual measure. While you can make much more in anesthesia, one factor was how much life-threatening illness I was willing to manage. While I could have dug in and gotten through anesthesia, my ICU experiences taught me that I didn't like the constant stress associated with critical care. It was rewarding but it took its toll over time. Although psychiatry has its own stresses, there aren't many life-threatening conditions outside SI/HI.