Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist

[AcronymAllergy]

While they do tend to make a bit of money for the cases, there's a reason forensic psychologists (neuro and not) are paid highly for what they do--it's hard, it's adversarial, and it takes a good bit of time with often staggering levels of administrative work and attention to detail required (particularly early on in your career). I'm of course not saying it isn't an option in general, but it's certainly not an option for everyone.

As for neuropsych in general, I'd say that just like any other niche, someone should go into it due to interest in the topic area, not solely for income-related reasons. The everyday practice can be quite different from other areas of psych, to the extent that most of the non-neuro folks I know have generally felt that practicing it only a daily basis would make them pretty miserable. Although as has been said elsewhere, a neuropsychologist is a psychologist first, so obtaining a solid foundation of generalist training is very, very important.

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[goldenslumbers]

trololololol

 

[edieb]

I'm getting pretty sick of all the self-loathing psychologists to be honest. Freud would have been disappointed. The point is, what do you want to do with your life? Do you want to spend a minimal amount of time with your patients and prescribe medications? Or do you want to have 45min-60min sessions with patients to try and understand the source of their problems. Studies have shown that psychotherapy is more effective in the long-term than medication alone; when one is taking medication, they will often relapse after they stop taking it. Plus, medication often treats the symptoms, not necessarily the source. As a neuroscience major and someone who was going to start medical school this August but decided not to, I can say that it ultimately is your choice.

And contrary to what everyone thinks on this site: YOU CAN MAKE MONEY AS A CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST.

I'm not trying to brag or anything, but my parents who are clinical psychologists run an over 1 million dollar practice in a very ethical and intelligent way. I'm just trying to say that if you have a business sense and you're smart and you *want* to make money--you can. REGARDLESS OF YOUR DEGREE. So go do what you want to do. If you think psychologists just sit around and talk to people and don't make money, simply don't be one. We don't need anymore psychologists who think their jobs are worthless. If you want to remedy ailments with Prozac and Adderrall, then go ahead. You need to do more research and find out what would make you happy instead of asking people here.

In any case, psychology is a beautiful, beautiful field. And it is rapidly changing every day. You truly get to help people and change their lives for the better over a long period of time. What could be better?

remember, if you want to make money, you can d@&$ well find a way to do so. so do you what you're happy with.

Don't feed the troll

 

[erg923]

I like that "Freud would have been dissappointed."

Freud could give less than a **** about you cause Freud is ****ing dead, aight!

 

[PHD12]

I'm getting pretty sick of all the self-loathing psychologists to be honest.

Wow, you sound angry. Maybe Freud can help with that . I think you are misinterpreting the posts. Nobody is really saying "go into psychiatry even if you aren't interested in it and have no interest in meds." It is a good option for folks interested in therapy + med management, and it has some advantages if you want to provide comprehensive care that includes psychiatric treatment.

You haven't even started a graduate program in psychology, which means you really don't know much about being in this field (aside from your parents "1 million dollar practice") . Plus, you haven't spent 8 years in training so it's easy to say, "I'm sick of all the self-loathing of psychologists."

Yes, psychologists can make a comfortable income. Realize though that you are essentially saying, "I know 1 person who makes a ton of money, therefore anyone can make money in this field so stop complaining." Haven't you learned not to draw firm conclusions from an N=1. Plus, you sound like a "rich brat," even though you may not be at all. If you are interested in some data, you may want to check out the APA salary survey of licensed doctoral level clinical/counseling, which has a median income of 80K & 87K for mid-career folks with 22 years of experience. This does not include postdoc pay. For some people this is tough to live on (with kids etc.), and for others it's quite fine (especially, if you live in a low cost area).

Edieb, good call on the troll. I only saw it once I already wrote the response.

 

[goldenslumbers]

 

[edieb]

Wow, you sound angry. Maybe Freud can help with that . I think you are misinterpreting the posts. Nobody is really saying "go into psychiatry even if you aren't interested in it and have no interest in meds." It is a good option for folks interested in therapy + med management, and it has some advantages if you want to provide comprehensive care that includes psychiatric treatment.

You haven't even started a graduate program in psychology, which means you really don't know much about being in this field (aside from your parents "1 million dollar practice") . Plus, you haven't spent 8 years in training so it's easy to say, "I'm sick of all the self-loathing of psychologists."

Yes, psychologists can make a comfortable income. Realize though that you are essentially saying, "I know 1 person who makes a ton of money, therefore anyone can make money in this field so stop complaining." Haven't you learned not to draw firm conclusions from an N=1. Plus, you sound like a "rich brat," even though you may not be at all. If you are interested in some data, you may want to check out the APA salary survey of licensed doctoral level clinical/counseling, which has a median income of 80K & 87K for mid-career folks with 22 years of experience. This does not include postdoc pay. For some people this is tough to live on (with kids etc.), and for others it's quite fine (especially, if you live in a low cost area).

Edieb, good call on the troll. I only saw it once I already wrote the response.

At the very best, this is a person shows poor reasoning skills with this post. Why would anyone take advice from a person who essentially has a silver spoon in their mouths? If this person's parents have a million dollar practice, then it doesn't matter whether they land an APA approved internship or not nor does it matter where they go to school as long as they are licensable. All they have to do is walk out with their PhD and walk into this grand private practice.

On the other hand, the person asking for this advice is probably not in such a golden situation and will have to fight for an APA internship and find a post doc and relocate to the armpit of hell to work.

I am seeing more and more jobs on the APPIC listserv that say LP (licensed psychologist), MSW, LPC or LMFT. This is ++not++ a good field. When I was wading through contract offers as a Prescribing psychologist, nobody even care about my PhD because that allowed me to bill a whopping $4 more an hour for psychotherapy than an LCSW and $12 more an hour for assessment!!

 

[goldenslumbers]

Trolling

 

[goldenslumbers]

I just copied that from a sticky from a thread I saw a while ago about a person who had a similar background to me but was harassing forum members. I can't find the actual thread now, but I felt it was appropriate to paste it here sorry for trollery!

 

[PHD12]

accidental post.