Psychistrist lifestyle, and can I be more than one type?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

_spenncer

New Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
May 6, 2015
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
How is the lifestyle of a Psychiatrist? (Salary,family,etc.)
I also want to know if you can make more getting training in more than one specialty. I honestly love each specialty and can't choose, can I do more than one? I was thinking like a forensic and adult psychiatrist. I can run a regular solo pratice as an adult psychiatrist and be to be called upon when somebody needs me for the justice system? Can you do even more than that?

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
I was originally going to go for Family and IM, but Psychiatry really gave me more options in terms of being able to juggle a family, and the field is so expansive. You could most certainly do Forensics and Adult. That's what pushed me to Psychiatry, plus I had dealing with HTN Diabetes all the time and spending 5 minutes with patients.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You can be boarded in as many psyc subspecialties you like. Many I know have multiple certifications. Court can be tricky. You may end up working on a case that gets rescheduled a few times so your outpatient practice can be pushed aside. Someone who lectured us in residency on forensics said he would block off time for all of the eval work and for the court testimony, then charge an extremely high rate/hour for all of it. I think it was around $700/hr 15 years ago. But, he only could charge that rate for a small portion of his week.

I hate court work and avoid it like the plague. We quote some crazy rate to lawyers and I have yet to be called in to actually testify on anything. We get lots of subpoenas and court orders, but they all relent later.

For regular outpatient psyc, the lifestyle is great IMO. You work hard solving problems all day, so you it can be draining in that sense, but it is easy from a physical standpoint (compared to something like surgery). Once I leave my office (40hr/week), my life is mine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Top