Too friendly for psych, too weird for family medicine

[agmed2017]

This is a weird question but one that I'm curious to get opinions about. Submitting ROL next week-- decided last minute that family medicine residency might not be for me given the intensity of inpatient general medical training during residency, and psychiatry was my original idea (at least before my clerkship), and so interviewed at my school's psychiatry program (only option given last minute decision to consider psychiatry). So I have a list of 15 programs, 1 psychiatry and 14 FM. My options for FM are great, and my school's psychiatry program is overall low-tier based on research but with great psychotherapy training.

At this point I'm honestly burned out on this whole thing and have been for a while, and need residency training to be manageable and to have a calm but fulfilled life long-term.

But I think it's going to come down to one major question, one of personality. Family medicine physicians are super nice even if they're always going in a million directions, psychiatrists are nice but in a detached way that seems like you're always being judged. So is it better to be too zany for the stressors of family medicine, or to be too friendly and "high energy" for psychiatry as long as you can learn to take it down a rung with patients?

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UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who left constructive comments! This whole process of medical training has been a privilege that I'm so grateful for, but also a totally ridiculous decision for a person like me, that's left me feeling trapped and burned out for a while. It's nice to be able to come somewhere like SDN for extra random opinions to see if there's a perspective I haven't considered. Will be matching into FM and potentially changing over to psych later when I have better options open. Thanks again-- keep it jazzy.

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[WingedOx]

This is a weird question but one that I'm curious to get opinions about. Submitting ROL next week-- decided last minute that family medicine residency might not be for me given the intensity of inpatient general medical training during residency, and psychiatry was my original idea (at least before my clerkship), and so interviewed at my school's psychiatry program (only option given last minute decision to consider psychiatry). So I have a list of 15 programs, 1 psychiatry and 14 FM. My options for FM are great, and my school's psychiatry program is overall low-tier based on research but with great psychotherapy training.

At this point I'm honestly burned out on this whole thing and have been for a while, and need residency training to be manageable and to have a calm, content life long-term.

But I think it's going to come down to one major question, one of personality. Family medicine physicians are super nice even if they're always going in a million directions, psychiatrists are nice but in a detached way that seems like you're always being judged (even though I don't think it needs to be this way). So is it better to be too weird/crazy for the stressors of family medicine, or to be too friendly and "high energy" for psychiatry as long as you can take learn to take it down a rung with patients?

I mean, if your psychiatry residency is "easy" then it's probably not all that good.

 

[PlutoBoy]

This is a weird question but one that I'm curious to get opinions about. Submitting ROL next week-- decided last minute that family medicine residency might not be for me given the intensity of inpatient general medical training during residency, and psychiatry was my original idea (at least before my clerkship), and so interviewed at my school's psychiatry program (only option given last minute decision to consider psychiatry). So I have a list of 15 programs, 1 psychiatry and 14 FM. My options for FM are great, and my school's psychiatry program is overall low-tier based on research but with great psychotherapy training.

At this point I'm honestly burned out on this whole thing and have been for a while, and need residency training to be manageable and to have a calm but fulfilled life long-term.

But I think it's going to come down to one major question, one of personality. Family medicine physicians are super nice even if they're always going in a million directions, psychiatrists are nice but in a detached way that seems like you're always being judged (even though I don't think it needs to be this way). So is it better to be too weird/crazy for the stressors of family medicine, or to be too friendly and "high energy" for psychiatry as long as you can learn to take it down a rung with patients?

It's not good to be too weird/crazy at all. Some patients may confuse extravagance with incompetence. Being friendly is ok no matter what you do.

I think the lifestyle of primary care physicians is excellent. If you want an easy and predictable day at work FM may be a good fit. I can't comment on psych.

 

[smq123]

This is a weird question but one that I'm curious to get opinions about. Submitting ROL next week-- decided last minute that family medicine residency might not be for me given the intensity of inpatient general medical training during residency, and psychiatry was my original idea (at least before my clerkship), and so interviewed at my school's psychiatry program (only option given last minute decision to consider psychiatry). So I have a list of 15 programs, 1 psychiatry and 14 FM. My options for FM are great, and my school's psychiatry program is overall low-tier based on research but with great psychotherapy training.

At this point I'm honestly burned out on this whole thing and have been for a while, and need residency training to be manageable and to have a calm but fulfilled life long-term.

But I think it's going to come down to one major question, one of personality. Family medicine physicians are super nice even if they're always going in a million directions, psychiatrists are nice but in a detached way that seems like you're always being judged (even though I don't think it needs to be this way). So is it better to be too weird/crazy for the stressors of family medicine, or to be too friendly and "high energy" for psychiatry as long as you can learn to take it down a rung with patients?

Don't make your career choice based on how you think your personality matches up to other people in that specialty. You can't make decisions based on personality because you haven't met the vast majority of doctors in either field. I've worked with psychiatrists who were warm and fuzzy, and I've worked with family doctors who are cold and aloof.

Base your decision on whether or not you like the work and types of patients that they see. That's really the only thing that matters.

 

[hamstergang]

But I think it's going to come down to one major question, one of personality. Family medicine physicians are super nice even if they're always going in a million directions, psychiatrists are nice but in a detached way that seems like you're always being judged (even though I don't think it needs to be this way). So is it better to be too weird/crazy for the stressors of family medicine, or to be too friendly and "high energy" for psychiatry as long as you can learn to take it down a rung with patients?

This is all really nonsense. If you have an interest in the field and have graduated medical school, then either field is well suited to you. The personalities of those in these fields are much more varied than your so far limited observations would indicate, and it's not clear to me that any of these traits you mention actually correlate with doing better in either field.

 

[DrMeowMeow]

If this helps at all, I was going to do psych at first and ended up SOAPing into FM. I was very terrified at having to do inpatient general medical floors, especially since I spent all of 4th year on easy rotations and psych, but it turned out fine. They assume you don't know anything at the beginning and you can look up most things on uptodate. As long as you try and work hard during residency you'll learn how to do everything.

 

[24blue8]

If this helps at all, I was going to do psych at first and ended up SOAPing into FM. I was very terrified at having to do inpatient general medical floors, especially since I spent all of 4th year on easy rotations and psych, but it turned out fine. They assume you don't know anything at the beginning and you can look up most things on uptodate. As long as you try and work hard during residency you'll learn how to do everything.

Are you still thinking of switching into psych?

 

[deleted480308]

This isn’t a buzzfeed quiz

 

[raiderette]

FP and weird doesn't seem at odds. It is one area where humor and creativity can get you patients. My FP doctor is a little weird, but is so genuine. I recommend her to everyone.

 

[DrMeowMeow]

Are you still thinking of switching into psych?

Nope! I accepted FM forever as soon as I took the soap offer. There’s not enough psych passion there to prolong residency a couple years by switching and not interested in addiction fellowship. I’m halfway through and already itching to finish ASAP cause I’m getting tired of working long hours with minimal pay and feeling low on the totem pole. Most of the patients I encounter have psych issues anyway. My program is as nice, fun and supportive as an FM residency could be though, can’t ask for more from them.