Very Unsure of What to do.. Help?

[Maeloryne]

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Hi guys,
So I am currently at a cross roads with my career path. At first, I was sure Pharmacy would work for me. My aunts a pharmacist and she has such a nice house, so why not? But then I took psychology and realized I picked Pharmacy for all the wrong reasons. I began to shift my focus to Psychiatry, which I felt was a good mixture of both pharmacy and psychology. Now, after thinking about med school, I am just so unsure. Knowing every bone in the body and every disease and blah blah has no interest to me. I just want to be able to help people with mental illness and have no limitations (such as not being able to prescribe). Money is also a big factor to me and I know the more you make, the more the government takes.. I am just concerned overall. Not only this, but med school is such a hassle and such a pain in the ass. It is so pricy and I really don't have money for med school.. I just don't know if I want to invest in something like that. I also would love to be able to start a family and settle down before I'm like 35.. Psychiatry would not allow me to do that. I would be running around and working like crazy. I have noticed already that my course load preparing me for med school in undergrad has already made me anal and is putting a divide between my boyfriend and I. I'm just really not sure about med school.. Can anyone offer some suggestions?

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

Med school may be a very hard path for you then. I might try out some of the clinical EC's you would need anyways before making a life changing decision, i.e. shadow and volunteer. Once you have done that, then you will have tested the waters so to speak, and maybe your mind will be changed a little about the whole med school process. But if after that, you still don't like any other aspect of medicine, I think I would recommend against med school, as for one thing, it's not a sure thing, two, it's quite expensive (both to apply and to pay for) and 3, it sounds like it would be extremely difficult to build the motivation to study (not to say that you lack in motivation, but forcing yourself to learn things you're not interested in is really hard, and med school is hard enough).

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

Second thoughts, you might consider Psych Phd in that case, as it allows you to focus exclusively on psych.

 

[Maeloryne]

I considered that but for the same amount of schooling, I could be a doctor and make a lot more. I also don't want to be just clinical because I think I would have a hard time separating emotions from my work.

 

[TraumaLlamaMD]

If you go into med school with the attitude that it's a "hassle and a pain in the ass," you're going to burn out hard. It's hard enough for those of us who actually are interested in learning about bones and diseases to stay motivated when things get rough. I'd save yourself the debt, there are other ways to make a comfortable living while helping people with mental illnesses.

 

[Maeloryne]

What type of other jobs do you think are out there and more suitable for me?

 

[AlteredScale]

What type of other jobs do you think are out there and more suitable for me?

Have you thought about PsyD, occupational therapy, or social work?

There are a few red flags here I'm concerned with here. You're basing your life time decisions of a career on a personality test. You are seeking the comfort of money, relative academic leniency, time, and relationships and you see all of those things disappearing in med school, which is true. You will incur debt, the classes will be very hard, and you won't have as much time (but you'll still have some time) for anyone including yourself.

It doesn't sound like medical school is a great fit for you at this point of your life.

 

[WingedOx]

Money is also a big factor to me and I know the more you make, the more the government takes.

sigh. 🤔 what is it about SDN that has so many college-educated students who don't understand graduated tax rates?

as for your whole post, if you want to prescribe, you need to understand body systems and physiology. Period. I appreciate your interest in mental health, and you can use that interest in a vast number of specialties, even outside of psychiatry... particularly if you're good at it a solid knowledge of mental health goes a long way in specialties like Neuro, IM, FM, PMnR, and even surgery (though the surgeons will never admit this.)

As for being able to separate your emotions from work, you get better at it with time. You see some seriously intense sh-t in this profession regardless of what area. Gradually learning that you're able to help despite the drama goes a long way.

...and I have to disagree with an above poster. Med school IS a pain in the ass. I've said many times that a college course on Kafka will be a lot more useful to your medical education than any upper level science class. There are things in medical school that really really suck, especially in the 3rd year when your role is that of a glorified ass kisser. It's still been worth it though.

 

[Maeloryne]

Do you think that OT is a suitable profession?

 

[Goro]

Easy: Psychology!!!

Therapist/counseling.

Problem solved.

Hi guys,
So I am currently at a cross roads with my career path. At first, I was sure Pharmacy would work for me. My aunts a pharmacist and she has such a nice house, so why not? But then I took psychology and realized I picked Pharmacy for all the wrong reasons. I began to shift my focus to Psychiatry, which I felt was a good mixture of both pharmacy and psychology. Now, after thinking about med school, I am just so unsure. Knowing every bone in the body and every disease and blah blah has no interest to me. I just want to be able to help people with mental illness and have no limitations (such as not being able to prescribe). Money is also a big factor to me and I know the more you make, the more the government takes.. I am just concerned overall. Not only this, but med school is such a hassle and such a pain in the ass. It is so pricy and I really don't have money for med school.. I just don't know if I want to invest in something like that. I also would love to be able to start a family and settle down before I'm like 35.. Psychiatry would not allow me to do that. I would be running around and working like crazy. I have noticed already that my course load preparing me for med school in undergrad has already made me anal and is putting a divide between my boyfriend and I. I'm just really not sure about med school.. Can anyone offer some suggestions?

 

[Maeloryne]

I don't really like sitting all day and doing psychotherapy.. I'm really interested in OT as someone mentioned above..

 

[EParker37]

Just going to throw my .02 cents in here, my fiancee is finishing her masters in child counseling eventually going on to get a PhD in the same, UG in psychology. She wants to work as a licensed psych counselor and play therapist. She doesn't just do psychotherapy, she engages the kids etc. She loves working on the clinical psych side of things, and can just refer them to a psychiatrist that is affiliated to the office for prescriptions.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Have you thought about PsyD, occupational therapy, or social work?

There are a few red flags here I'm concerned with here. You're basing your life time decisions of a career on a personality test. You are seeking the comfort of money, relative academic leniency, time, and relationships and you see all of those things disappearing in med school, which is true. You will incur debt, the classes will be very hard, and you won't have as much time (but you'll still have some time) for anyone including yourself.

It doesn't sound like medical school is a great fit for you at this point of your life.

Lots of MSW do counseling at the academic med centers in the psychiatry department.

 

[Eppur Si Muove]

Someone can correct me if I am wrong but isn't psychiatry a 3 or at most 4 year residency? So we are looking at ~7 years of schooling. I believe a phd usually takes 5-7 years in psych to attain. So really, you are looking at the same length of time education wise and psychiatry is way better choice as far as career opportunities and outlook go. I have heard from my uncle (phD in Psych) that it is really hard to find jobs now a days in psych and he doesn't reccomend it to people right now. Med school may be harder but getting a phD is no walk in the park and will be a pain too, so I don't see why you shouldn't go for the MD/DO and the better outlook. Just my 0.02.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Someone can correct me if I am wrong but isn't psychiatry a 3 or at most 4 year residency? So we are looking at ~7 years of schooling. I believe a phd usually takes 5-7 years in psych to attain. So really, you are looking at the same length of time education wise and psychiatry is way better choice as far as career opportunities and outlook go. I have heard from my uncle (phD in Psych) that it is really hard to find jobs now a days in psych and he doesn't reccomend it to people right now. Med school may be harder but getting a phD is no walk in the park and will be a pain too, so I don't see why you shouldn't go for the MD/DO and the better outlook. Just my 0.02.

Yup, psychiatry residency is 4 years, then another 2 if you do child psych (Dad is child psy). He has lots of MSWs in his clinics and Inpatient units doing therapy work. PhD are more in the Neuropsychology and Psych Testing areas. Some in the specialty clinics.

 

[WingedOx]

Child psych can be cut back to 5 years if you "fast-track," which most people do now.

But yeah, med clinics all over the hospital have therapy-focused LCSWs. Our HIV clinic, our sickle cell clinic, our transplant clinic, etc.

Psychiatry is one of those fields with a really really good job market at the moment. For PhDs, not so much.

 

[Maeloryne]

Psychiatry would take 12 years. 4 undergrad, 4 med, 4 res

 

[heartsink]

Having come from the world of grad school and clinical psych phd programs, I'd be very cautious about the path if I were you. The market is absolutely saturated, and there's huge competition for jobs as previous posters mentioned. You have to absolutely be in love with research to take that path, and your financial outcome will likely be mediocre.

Psychiatry honestly sounds like a better path for you even after hearing you don't care much for the rest of medicine. There are posters here on sdn I've followed and read who went into med school for the sole purpose of psychiatry and had no interest in the rest. They made it and are now residents or attendings.

You said you don't want to be restricted from med management, you are interested in mental health but don't want to just do counselor / masters level therapy work all day, you care about being having a comfortable financial situation -- psychiatry is the only route that has all of this.

What you need to do first is dig deep and really question whether you can, and want to stomach several years of learning medicine that mostly has nothing to do with what you want.

I decided I wanted all the things you say you wanted and so I changed paths from clin psych PhDs to med school because I decided I do want this goal enough to go through med school for it. I've even mental gymnastic'ed my way into believing the rest of medical school could be interesting and likely valuable.

Before you make any moves, research them heavily. Read the psychiatry boards, ask questions and talk to psychiatrists and figure out what you want and what you'll sacrifice for it.

 

[Maeloryne]

I don't want to be a PHD. I like psychiatry just don't want the hassle of med school. I've been looking into OT since "Altered Scale" suggested it. I like the idea behind it, but it is definitely a pay cut.

 

[TraumaLlamaMD]

I have a little brother with autism, and I can tell you that the OTs in his life have been amazingly influential and have really been able to make a difference. From what I hear, they find the job very rewarding.

 

[Maeloryne]

What exactly do they do for him?

 

[candbgirl]

This person has no interest in being a doctor outside of the nice house, better pay and ability to write scripts. Not sure exactly what she wants us to tell her! Go to college, graduate , get married to a doctor, buy a nice house and have kids. You don't have a clue as to what various people do in various professions. If you want to know what people do go research and then go volunteer and observe,

 

[TraumaLlamaMD]

When he was younger, they did a lot of work on desensitization, working with different textures, etc. He needed a lot of help with fine motor skills - learning to write, brush his hair, tie his shoes, and other functional tasks. I remember a lot of play-doh, balance training (not sure how much of this was PT vs. OT), bead-stringing... The interaction itself often came in the form of games (the PT/OT room at his school is the most amazingly fun place), which on their own helped him with some social interaction and turn-taking.

His speech therapist as a young kid was also amazing, and I credit her with his ability to communicate today. He is very social and vocal, which are problems many autistic children struggle with, and I'm glad he had people who could give him the chance to grow.