Pursuing neuropsychology even if I have a greater interest in biology?

[OhAnon]

I’m a junior in college I have been stuck between pursuing medicine or neuropsychology. I used to only want to be a psychologist, but I have begun to find my classes in human biology more interesting. I still enjoy my psychology classes but I enjoy learning about the workings of the body more, which is why I was drawn to medicine. My issue with medicine is that don’t know if I would enjoy the job in practice. I feel that a career in psychology better suits my personality and goals, despite the fact that I find the subject matter of medicine more interesting. From what i’ve seen and heard from other doctors, appointments are rushed and you don’t spend much time with a patient. Personally I hate being rushed and don’t like quick descision making. I am a person who likes to be more laid back and enjoys slower paced and more lengthy one on one interactions. This is where I find that psychology may better fit my ideal career. I tend to be more of a thinker who likes to plan things out and help someone one on one with their goals rather than doing procedures. I like the idea of educating patients/clients and helping them understand what is going on with them and creating a plan to get there. which I’m aware a lot of health care careers do.

Based on this, do you think a career in neuropsychology is a good mix between biology and psychology that would fit my personality?

As a side note, I’m not sure if I have greater interest in my bio classes because the psych classes at my college have been very easy and I don’t need to put much effort to succeed in them. I’m assuming upper level psychology classes are probably more intellectually stimulating, and I might enjoy those more .

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[summerbabe]

My issue with medicine is that don’t know if I would enjoy the job in practice.

I think you are asking the right kinds of questions. Interest is great but by itself, might not be enough to sustain a poor fitting career, which is a more complex decision.

On an intellectual level, neuropsych does strike a balance between psychology and biology. Considering the day to day realities of different careers with your needs might provide some direction.

Neuropsychologists tend to focus on answering specific referral questions (Is this dementia?) so their work tends to be more investigative and analytical in nature and their relationships with patients tend to be brief. They also spend significantly more time not with the patient (scoring testing, interpreting results, reviewing medical records, writing reports) than in direct care with patients (doing testing, clinical interview, providing brief feedback afterwards).

Some will work in private practice (lots of autonomy but you’re running your own business) while others will receive a salary to work for a hospital or practice owned by somebody else.

Medicine obviously has a lot of different tracks and settings where one can work, which will influence pace, work demands and patient relationships (family medicine where you may treat somebody for decades versus hospital internist who does lots of 1-off consultations).

Since shadowing in medicine is a known pre-req requirement, perhaps pursuing that will give you some more insight into whether that career might be sustainable. Good luck!

 

[neurotic_cow]

I was in a similar position as you! I majored in neuroscience (primarily bio, did 4 years neurobiology research) and was trying to pick between med school (neurology) and neuropsych. I picked neuropsych for similar reasons like you described. At that time, I thought it was sort of the perfect combo of neuroscience, analytical thinking/problem solving, and work-life balance. I have questioned many times over the years whether I made the right decision, and I still wasn't convinced until I started shadowing one of our neurologists during postdoc who was seeing 15-20 patients a day and I felt like my brain was going to melt from overload. I don't know if that's typical, but I personally like the fact that as a neuropsych, I see 1-2 patients per day, maybe 3 maximum on memory clinic days (shorter evals). It's easier to keep things straight in my mind and gives me time to process everything. But enough about my experiences, I'd be happy to share more about this with you if you'd think it would be helpful. Ultimately, the best advice I can offer you is to see if you can shadow a neuropsych and medical doctor and see what their days are actually like, though as summerbabe pointed out there are SO many different directions you can go in both fields.

 

[R. Matey]

I’m a junior in college I have been stuck between pursuing medicine or neuropsychology. I used to only want to be a psychologist, but I have begun to find my classes in human biology more interesting. I still enjoy my psychology classes but I enjoy learning about the workings of the body more, which is why I was drawn to medicine. My issue with medicine is that don’t know if I would enjoy the job in practice. I feel that a career in psychology better suits my personality and goals, despite the fact that I find the subject matter of medicine more interesting. From what i’ve seen and heard from other doctors, appointments are rushed and you don’t spend much time with a patient. Personally I hate being rushed and don’t like quick descision making. I am a person who likes to be more laid back and enjoys slower paced and more lengthy one on one interactions. This is where I find that psychology may better fit my ideal career. I tend to be more of a thinker who likes to plan things out and help someone one on one with their goals rather than doing procedures. I like the idea of educating patients/clients and helping them understand what is going on with them and creating a plan to get there. which I’m aware a lot of health care careers do.

Bear in mind that most of neuropsychology is evaluations (e.g., testing). In these situations, you spend a few hours with a patient going through a battery or obtaining a history to make a judgement based on the referral question. Those are scripted procedures for the purpose of maintaining validity. While there is time for this, part of what you're describing sounds like you have an interest in psychotherapy, which typically isn't the focus of neuropsychology. They are certainly qualified to do it as generalists or if they have received specialized training in some evidenced based practice, but typically the financial reward structure favors testing, much like prescribing medication does for psychiatrists. All that to say that you should think carefully about how you want to spend your time week to week. If you see yourself more as a therapist that does some testing, there is no shame in pursuing that as a career option. The world desperately needs science-informed psychotherapy practitioners.

As a side note, I’m not sure if I have greater interest in my bio classes because the psych classes at my college have been very easy and I don’t need to put much effort to succeed in them. I’m assuming upper level psychology classes are probably more intellectually stimulating, and I might enjoy those more .

As you get into your upper level courses, you'll find that these two fields will start to converge especially if you take some neuroscience courses. If you're concerned the content classes are too easy, I personally think psychologists need to have strong general understanding of human anatomy so we can be more informed about how psychotropics affect other systems than simply the mechanisms of action in the brain, so perhaps consider some general anatomy classes, if you haven't already. Also, if you're serious about psych research, I'd suggest adding calc and, if you can swing it, linear algebra as well as maybe a few coding classes so you can understand how the stats you will be using in graduate school actually work.

 

[PsychPhDone]

I’m a junior in college I have been stuck between pursuing medicine or neuropsychology. I used to only want to be a psychologist, but I have begun to find my classes in human biology more interesting. I still enjoy my psychology classes but I enjoy learning about the workings of the body more, which is why I was drawn to medicine. My issue with medicine is that don’t know if I would enjoy the job in practice. I feel that a career in psychology better suits my personality and goals, despite the fact that I find the subject matter of medicine more interesting. From what i’ve seen and heard from other doctors, appointments are rushed and you don’t spend much time with a patient. Personally I hate being rushed and don’t like quick descision making. I am a person who likes to be more laid back and enjoys slower paced and more lengthy one on one interactions. This is where I find that psychology may better fit my ideal career. I tend to be more of a thinker who likes to plan things out and help someone one on one with their goals rather than doing procedures. I like the idea of educating patients/clients and helping them understand what is going on with them and creating a plan to get there. which I’m aware a lot of health care careers do.

Based on this, do you think a career in neuropsychology is a good mix between biology and psychology that would fit my personality?

As a side note, I’m not sure if I have greater interest in my bio classes because the psych classes at my college have been very easy and I don’t need to put much effort to succeed in them. I’m assuming upper level psychology classes are probably more intellectually stimulating, and I might enjoy those more .

If you really like bio/medicine you also might want to consider clinical health psych or even rehab psych down the line. It's very helpful to have an understanding of medical processes when embedded in a medical clinic.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Behavioral Neurology might be an option too. It's a niche area of practice, but there is some crossover, depending on your patient population(s).

 

[NeuroPsychosis]

"the psych classes at my college have been very easy and I don’t need to put much effort to succeed in them."

Doctoral level work is radically different than undergraduate. Psychology courses get much more specialized as you advance. You will need to master skills in neurobiology, advanced statistics and psychometrics (some require conceptualization of calculus), anatomy & physiology of the brain and spinal cord, and most importantly understand the etiology and pathology of various neurological and Psychiatric illnesses. On top of that you will need to build competence in clinical and research skills. If you pursue a PhD, be ready to suffer the same difficulty as that of a biologist- which is conducting original research that requires a set of above average intellectual strengths to become a worthy contributor in the field. If Medicine or medical field is not your thing, avoid clinical psychology/neuropsychology at all costs (they are medical field professions).

 

[smalltownpsych]

I’m a junior in college I have been stuck between pursuing medicine or neuropsychology. I used to only want to be a psychologist, but I have begun to find my classes in human biology more interesting. I still enjoy my psychology classes but I enjoy learning about the workings of the body more, which is why I was drawn to medicine. My issue with medicine is that don’t know if I would enjoy the job in practice. I feel that a career in psychology better suits my personality and goals, despite the fact that I find the subject matter of medicine more interesting. From what i’ve seen and heard from other doctors, appointments are rushed and you don’t spend much time with a patient. Personally I hate being rushed and don’t like quick descision making. I am a person who likes to be more laid back and enjoys slower paced and more lengthy one on one interactions. This is where I find that psychology may better fit my ideal career. I tend to be more of a thinker who likes to plan things out and help someone one on one with their goals rather than doing procedures. I like the idea of educating patients/clients and helping them understand what is going on with them and creating a plan to get there. which I’m aware a lot of health care careers do.

Based on this, do you think a career in neuropsychology is a good mix between biology and psychology that would fit my personality?

As a side note, I’m not sure if I have greater interest in my bio classes because the psych classes at my college have been very easy and I don’t need to put much effort to succeed in them. I’m assuming upper level psychology classes are probably more intellectually stimulating, and I might enjoy those more .

I was the opposite. Enjoy the biology and was pre-med, but definitely love studying psychology. I find psychology more challenging and intellectually stimulating and love solving the puzzles of why people do what they do and how to intervene. Also, undergrad psychology was weak and I got most of my information from my own delving into subjects during that time.

 

[Sanman]

I was the opposite. Enjoy the biology and was pre-med, but definitely love studying psychology. I find psychology more challenging and intellectually stimulating and love solving the puzzles of why people do what they do and how to intervene. Also, undergrad psychology was weak and I got most of my information from my own delving into subjects during that time.

I was similar, though part of the reason I think I ended up in psychology was the public university biology/pre-med track was filled with weed out obstacles and more plant/basic biology focused. One thing to think about in the day to day of both medicine and neuropsychology, how much do you enjoy writing? I loved my graduate neuropsychology, but writing the actual reports was tedious and I preferred testing. Of course, in practice you often skip doing the testing and mostly review records and write reports if you want to make money. It may help to get some exposure to other fields PA and NPS in psych can go therapy and prescribe meds. I also considered SLP and physical therapy as possible routes in college at certain points. Happy where I ended up, but I think I would have been equally happy with some other choices (maybe with a few more dollars in the paycheck).

 

[smalltownpsych]

I was similar, though part of the reason I think I ended up in psychology was the public university biology/pre-med track was filled with weed out obstacles and more plant/basic biology focused. One thing to think about in the day to day of both medicine and neuropsychology, how much do you enjoy writing? I loved my graduate neuropsychology, but writing the actual reports was tedious and I preferred testing. Of course, in practice you often skip doing the testing and mostly review records and write reports if you want to make money. It may help to get some exposure to other fields PA and NPS in psych can go therapy and prescribe meds. I also considered SLP and physical therapy as possible routes in college at certain points. Happy where I ended up, but I think I would have been equally happy with some other choices (maybe with a few more dollars in the paycheck).

Plant biology…ugh…I love gardening and love identifying and learning the Latin and common names of plants but the xylem and phloem and cellular processes of plants just seemed so boring to me for some reason. Give me a neuron with calcium channels, action potentials, electrochemical communication and neural networks any day of the week.