Hey all, current DO student here.
Thinking a little about Psychiatry.
How is the life as a psychiatrist? Does it feel as if psychiatrists are under a ton of stress since they have to little to lots of mental health problems on a daily basis?
Also, I know this is super general, but how is the pay? Especially working nonacademic in a big city like NYC or Chicago.
Is it hard to work 50-70 hrs as a psychiatry (surgeon like hours) and make 350-450k+ even? Just wondering.
I hear people charging direct out of pocket for payment 200$, seeing 6 pts a day and making 300k+. Not sure if thats possible though.
As others have pointed out, the answers will vary from person to person. For myself:
1 - Life is quite nice! My day job is 40 hours a week. I don't tend to feel that stressed most days at work; I work with a team of talented psychologists, nurses, and social workers, which makes for a lively work environment where everything does not have to fall on me. While I hear about many, many distressing things in my day-to-day work, I don't find that it creates a great deal of personal stress for me. Handling such issues is part of what you learn during training. With that said, like many (pretty much all?) other fields in medicine you will see some things that you take home with you. That's part of being human. I find, though, that helping people through devastating times in their lives gives me a sense of meaning and purpose; it's not just observing a senseless parade of trauma for me.
2 - Nonacademic pay I would expect to start over $200k for most positions, and many will be closer to $250k. In some areas, $300k is not unusual (and I'm not talking about cash private practices).
3 - If you want to work 50-70 hours per week, I am confident you can break 350k. You need to *really* think about whether you want this, because the upper end of that range sounds absolutely miserable to me in psychiatry. You might break 450k, but you will have to either be very clever with your approach (finding just the right niche) or face burnout. I would not count on 450k levels.
4 - It is possible to run a cash-only private practice, and a large number of psychiatrists are successfully doing just that. Depending on the area, $200 per hour is very attainable (in some areas the going rate is often well above that). You will have to run a business, find patients, deal with gaps in your schedule / no-shows, nonpayment, etc., so it is not for everyone. It could be a pretty sweet way to practice for the right person though.
You might not be surprised to hear this but I'm very glad I went into psychiatry! It felt like the right fit from early on, and it certainly has turned out to be for me.