Talking with a Psychiatrist about their Work

[PsychInterestedSeattlite]

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Hello!

I am person who has been thinking about their career lately and wondering if a large pivot to medicine - specifically psychiatry - would be a good route for me. I've talked with one psychiatrist about their day-to-day responsibilities and the job, but I'd like to talk with more to form a more holistic picture.

Unfortunately my immediate circle of acquaintances has run out of psychiatrists, so I'm wondering if you folks would know the best way to have a 30 minute conversation about what the profession entails beyond a cursory search online. I'm certainly not above calling private practice offices and hospitals, but that seems like it could be an inefficient route.

Of course, if any of you lovely folks would be interested in talking with me, I would be eternally grateful! Aside from that, any other suggestions would also be immensely helpful.

Thank you for reading and any consideration!

 

[SpinDktr]

I think some background would be helpful in guiding you.

Are you a practicing physician right now? If so, what specialty? What draws you to psychiatry? For me, it is the stories...You get them anywhere in medicine, but I think in psychiatry you get a chance to actually narrate them. However, the current medical/RVU model makes this very hard...which has made several of my colleagues go into private practice. I have too much student loans, a stay at home spouse, and children to make that actually work... But I still enjoy what I am doing.

Anyway...The field of psychiatry is a very interesting one. I am happy I chose it. However, there are many factors that make it better for some than others. There was a surgeon who was 55 years old who entered our psychiatry residency program. I think he couldn't handle the pressures of surgery and probably had age related factors playing a role in choosing psychiatry after a career in surgery. He washed out in 2 months. Psychiatry is much more demanding than many people realize, but more from an emotional standpoint than anything else.

Sorry for going off topic a bit, but a little more info would help.

 

[PsychInterestedSeattlite]

Thank you for the reply!

To answer your first question, I'm currently a Business Analyst, but I volunteer at a Suicide Hotline and love the experience. That volunteering as well as a couple other factors (I'm young, have few ties) have me wondering if I should go back to school, then med school. Of course, that's quite a change and one I'd like to research before I take any major steps which begets my post looking to speak with a psychiatrist. Talking with a psychiatrist would give me a much better view of what their days actually look like and what to expect from the profession. The searching I've done has mostly led to cursory answers rather than anything dynamic or, I think, with sufficient depth.

 

[splik]

i am really not sure how helpful it would be to talk to a psychiatrist about their work. Psychiatry is a massive specialty with numerous different subspecialties, practice settings and treatment modalities. I suppose you could consider going to see a psychiatrist yourself. In addition, you are putting the cart before the horse here. The question is do you want to become a physician? go to medical school? and do you have the aptitude to do so?

i would suggest reading the many books on this topic and watching/reading the many interviews available online for psychiatrists in different subspecialties describing their career (bearing in mind these tend to be sanitized and dont mention all the terrible things about the field).

you might want to have a read of the following books:
Shrink Rap
Mount Misery
Love's executioner
Unhinged
Of Two minds
The Divided Self
Falling into the fire
Danger to self
Weekends at bellevue
Sometimes amazing things happen
dibs in search of self

This will provide you more of the "depth" than simply talking with someone.

also please dont call random psychiatrists' offices and hospitals.

 

[Doc1401]

Thank you for the reply!

To answer your first question, I'm currently a Business Analyst, but I volunteer at a Suicide Hotline and love the experience. That volunteering as well as a couple other factors (I'm young, have few ties) have me wondering if I should go back to school, then med school. Of course, that's quite a change and one I'd like to research before I take any major steps which begets my post looking to speak with a psychiatrist. Talking with a psychiatrist would give me a much better view of what their days actually look like and what to expect from the profession. The searching I've done has mostly led to cursory answers rather than anything dynamic or, I think, with sufficient depth.

Ted Bundy also worked for a suicide hotline in Seattle

 

[OldPsychDoc]

i am really not sure how helpful it would be to talk to a psychiatrist about their work. Psychiatry is a massive specialty with numerous different subspecialties, practice settings and treatment modalities. I suppose you could consider going to see a psychiatrist yourself. In addition, you are putting the cart before the horse here. The question is do you want to become a physician? go to medical school? and do you have the aptitude to do so?

i would suggest reading the many books on this topic and watching/reading the many interviews available online for psychiatrists in different subspecialties describing their career (bearing in mind these tend to be sanitized and dont mention all the terrible things about the field).

you might want to have a read of the following books:
Shrink Rap
Mount Misery
Love's executioner
Unhinged
Of Two minds
The Divided Self
Falling into the fire
Danger to self
Weekends at bellevue
Sometimes amazing things happen
dibs in search of self

This will provide you more of the "depth" than simply talking with someone.

also please dont call random psychiatrists' offices and hospitals.

Good reading list--I'd also recommend the Shrink Rap blog and the Real Psychiatry blog.

 

[dl2dp2]

The main barrier is one of cost. Given that private practice psychiatrists get $X per hour doing exactly what you asking, namely talking to you, why do you think they'd do this for you for free? Except, out of the goodness of their heart, which might happen once every 50 times.

If you are really interested in 30 min of someone's time, just call and say I'm trying to hire a consultant for $600 an hour. I'm sure you'll get responses.

 

[WingedOx]

Someone gifted me Shrink Rap back when I started intern year and I've never actually taken it off my bookshelf. I may have to read it now that OldPsychDoc gives his approval.

 

[MrChance2]

I'm a psych resident so my time still isin't worth much. PM me your number and I'll give you a call.

 

[thoffen]

I think the hardest thing is that, even if I had abundant access to my future self when I was considering switching to medicine, I wouldn't have been able to really appreciate the advice I was being given. Since you are coming from the background of a business analyst, you will understand that there are huge sunk costs in pursuing medicine/psychiatry. I would not advise going for it unless you had a passion for medicine itself.

 

[okokok]

I think the hardest thing is that, even if I had abundant access to my future self when I was considering switching to medicine, I wouldn't have been able to really appreciate the advice I was being given.

Exactly. I'm a graduating fourth-year. When I started med school, almost every practicing physician told me (and my classmates) that it was a bad idea or was at least negative about the field's prospects. Of course we didn't listen. After experiencing it, I don't know if medical school was the right choice or not. I'm just gonna roll with it though.

Going to medical school specifically to become a psychiatrist seems much harder to me than going with one's options open. I struggled so much with motivation--yeah, learning the nitty gritty details of the electron transport chain might be interesting, but add 100 other seemingly inconsequential bits of physio/path/histo and then 100 more the next day and on and on, it's easy to become bored and not see the point of it all. If I were dead set on practicing psych from day one, I definitely would have struggled to see the point of learning everything we had to learn in med school. (Though I do think there is a point to knowing all of that as a psychiatrist, of course--I just wouldn't have been able to see it as a first-, second-, or third-year med student.)

 

[PsychInterestedSeattlite]

Wow! Such a lively discussion!

Thanks for all the responses folks! Sounds like some more reading would be helpful, and I'm always keen for new literature. I'll check those out. I do think learning about the worst the daily work would help me understand what how I might fit in.

An uneducated example might be that a great many I talk with note that their greatest daily struggle is patients who don't seem to make noticeable progress toward agreed-upon goals. Were that a common theme among the folks I speak with, I would find that more discouraging than say, noting that paperwork and administrative tasks are the bane of their existence (they are for everyone!).

I know that MrChance2 has gratefully offered their time, but to find some more folks, I'll just have to keep mining my social circle for now.

 

[HealthHare]

Before starting med school I was really interested in psychiatry so I cold-called some of the local psychiatrists in my city to set up brief lunch meetings. Three agreeded and one even bought me lunch! I found these interactions very helpful. Don’t be afraid to reach out to folks!