I'm a Duke Med student who just finished the psychiatry clerkship.
I know nothing about Carolina's psychiatry program, so I have no basis for comparison, but I think that Boofus is right on regarding his/her impressions about Duke. The residents really are a tight-knit group of fun, smart people. They hold potluck dinners, and movie night every month (and probably lots of other stuff goes on that I, a lowly med student, know nothing about). They are genuinely happy, down-to-earth, interesting people. All of the attendings I got to work with were great. Family Studies is, indeed, a big treat and trains therapists very well. I'd never considered psychiatry before I started the clerkship, but I have to say that after working with so many terriffic people over the past month, psychiatry is now at the top of my list!
And Boofus, while I do understand your need to try to make some sort of sense out of why so few Duke med students choose psychiatry, I think I should perhaps dispell some of your stereotypes about us (particularly, if you will be teaching Duke students next year). Our curriculum is different, but by all accounts we actually aren't as stressed during the first year as our (ahem) Carolina med colleagues down the street. I guess you could say we're driven, but we aren't masochists: I think that part of what accounts for the draw away from psychiatry isn't that Duke grads want to kill themselves in IM and surgery, but rather that so many students are going into the R-O-A-D lifestyle specialities, because, well, they can.