Questions about psychiatry?

[TheBiologist]

---

Members do not see this ad.

1) Is the residency 4 years and, if so, what are you learning in those 4 years? Is it pretty much all human behavior? I'm kind of surprised it's as long as some other specialties like neuro or cardio

2) Is psychiatry respected in the medical community? In other words, are you looked down upon? Do doctors think "behavioral medicine" is witchcraft?

3) How is pay and lifestyle? How is the specialty compared to neurology?

thanks!

 

[jqueb29]

1) Is the residency 4 years and, if so, what are you learning in those 4 years? Is it pretty much all human behavior? I'm kind of surprised it's as long as some other specialties like neuro or cardio

2) Is psychiatry respected in the medical community? In other words, are you looked down upon? Do doctors think "behavioral medicine" is witchcraft?

3) How is pay and lifestyle? How is the specialty compared to neurology?

thanks!

1) Yes it's 4 years. I'm not really sure what all they learn to make it be 4 years though. I'm assuming it's mostly human behavior stuff because one could easily learn 99.9% of the medical aspect of psychiatry within about 6 months tops.

2) It's hit or miss, and basically depends on the psychiatrist. Psychiatry has a solid mix of 3 types of people: those who chose it for the lifestyle, people who chose it because they like the science itself, and those who weren't successful enough to get into something else. Many med students and some doctors stereotype psychiatrists as having a low medical knowledge base, which is definitely true for some psychiatrists, but the majority either liked the field or the lifestyle. And people can tell pretty quick which category you fall into. I had one resident on psych who I could quickly tell was lucky to have matched into anything, and another who was an absolute genius. My attending was also very medically knowledgable and respected by the other specialties in the hospital. And no, it's not viewed as witchcraft; it's viewed as a practice that is evidence-based and beneficial.

3) Pay is usually in the low 200k range I believe. Pretty sure Doximity gave an average of like $230k. Lifestyle is quite chill. The residents at my program are 8-4 or 8-5 depending on the specific rotation, with weekends literally always off. Call is infrequent and only lasts til like 9 or 10 pm. Compared to neurology, I would say it's a little less pay and much more free time.

 

[kopftonmd]

Good answers from the above poster. You should also really check out the psychiatry forum for more in-depth answers, too.

 

[gyngyn]

Psychiatry is a tremendously important specialty that interfaces with and improves outcomes in all other clinical disciplines.
Its practitioners have my great respect.

 

[efle]

I think the answer to 3) will depend a lot on your type of practice, no? Are you gonna be the guy working private practice in a wealthy suburb, or the guy they call for the schizophrenic that is screaming about demons in the ER?

 

[grapefruit17]

Psychiatry intern.

1. 4 years. I have roughly 4 months of inpatient psychiatry, 2 months consults, 1 inpatient medicine, one ER, and a few other things. Just to give you an idea. But it depends on the program. First year though, you'll have at least 3 months of medicine stuff, with a lot of inpatient psychiatry. 2nd year variable, 3rd year usually all outpatient. 4th usually electives mainly or entering fellowship

2. Some doctors do. Who cares? doesn't affect your life. People like to glorify working 100 hours a week and hating their life, almost like a badge of honor. Just do what makes you happy. It all depends on what makes you happy, everything else is not irrelevant. Much easier to do this when you're enjoying your life.

3. I think the current average is around 237k which is really good. Because that factors in the salary for ALL psychiatrists when a lot of them work only part time. If you look at medscape, they're doing pretty well. Child psych provides opportunity to make even more money. Lifestyle is highly variable. Some residencies are probably more relaxed while some can hit 80 a week. Same with the job after, all depends on how much you want to make vs how much you want to work

 

[bbbcccppp]

A good psychiatrist is worth their weight in gold. Very Hard to find like the blue winged lemur of Malaysia. Most fascinating specialty imo.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile