What about bilingual psychiatrist?

[xbonnielu]

What about bilingual psychiatrists? Chinese- English, Spanish- English? Are those psychiatrists very in need?

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[hippiedoc13]

What about bilingual psychiatrists? Chinese- English, Spanish- English? Are those psychiatrists very in need?

Depending on what region of the country you're in, absolutely. I'm currently in a large urban area and about 40% of the psych patients we see in our public hospital system speak a language other than English. Even for those patients who speak enough English to go about their everyday tasks and jobs, one can imagine how hard it might be for them to talk in English about the complicated and emotionally charged issues surrounding psychiatric illness, and how they might benefit from being able to see a provider who speaks their native language. In addition, your cultural understanding will be invaluable, as differences in cultural norms and beliefs play an even bigger role in psychiatry than they do in other areas of medicine (in my opinion). I have found that my language skills and cultural knowledge have been valued by my teams--and by the patients.

Bottom line--if you are bilingual and you have an inclination toward psychiatry, your skills can be an asset.

 

[Faebinder]

Gosh, never in my career was I needed to translate and only twice did I ecounter someone who speaks my language and doesn't speak english (their family were with them so I didnt even need to translate).

Most of the time it's spanish. Chinese is useful in New York city. Other languages... rarely needed. (Met a patient once that only spoke French! Good thing I can speak a little of that too.)

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I'm sure it is different in other parts of the country, but down here in S. FL....it is pretty much required.

-t

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Even where I am, in a relatively less demographically diverse part of the country, I bless my good fortune to have a native speaker of Spanish as my current resident, and a social worker who is fluent in Spanish as well.

 

[heriyinxin]

Hippiedoc13, Thx for ur information. I feel that language skills are becoming important to Psychiatrists now. U.S is a country full of immigrants. Even those immigrants can speak fluent English in daily life. When they are experiencing the emotional and mental problems, they are also experiencing language regression. The psychiatrists with language skills, especially like Chinese, spanish, are very in need.

Depending on what region of the country you're in, absolutely. I'm currently in a large urban area and about 40% of the psych patients we see in our public hospital system speak a language other than English. Even for those patients who speak enough English to go about their everyday tasks and jobs, one can imagine how hard it might be for them to talk in English about the complicated and emotionally charged issues surrounding psychiatric illness, and how they might benefit from being able to see a provider who speaks their native language. In addition, your cultural understanding will be invaluable, as differences in cultural norms and beliefs play an even bigger role in psychiatry than they do in other areas of medicine (in my opinion). I have found that my language skills and cultural knowledge have been valued by my teams--and by the patients.

Bottom line--if you are bilingual and you have an inclination toward psychiatry, your skills can be an asset.

 

[pingouin]

Agree it will depend on the city which language will be useful. Last I heard, my city was home to the second-largest Bosnian immigrant community in the country (~40,000). To my knowledge, we have ONE psychiatrist who speaks Bosnian (and Croatian, actually).

 

[nancysinatra]

Most of the time it's spanish. Chinese is useful in New York city. Other languages... rarely needed.

Not even Danish?? I speak that really well. And I thought it would be so helpful!

What about elderly patients with dementia who grew up in immigrant families--don't they sometimes revert to speaking whatever their first language was? My grandfather had alzhiemer's, and as he got worse and worse, he lost most of his English and spoke only in Norwegian, which he hadn't really been using other than to request certain Christmas foods in over 60 years. I'm just wondering if this is common, and might bring up a need for some less common foreign languages. However, I doubt anyone could get hired just for that skill...

Chinese does seem like it would be useful in New York.

 

[Faebinder]

Not even Danish?? I speak that really well. And I thought it would be so helpful!

What about elderly patients with dementia who grew up in immigrant families--don't they sometimes revert to speaking whatever their first language was? My grandfather had alzhiemer's, and as he got worse and worse, he lost most of his English and spoke only in Norwegian, which he hadn't really been using other than to request certain Christmas foods in over 60 years. I'm just wondering if this is common, and might bring up a need for some less common foreign languages. However, I doubt anyone could get hired just for that skill...

Chinese does seem like it would be useful in New York.

puerto rico programs wont even consider you without Spanish.

 

[BabyPsychDoc]

I am sure Spanish would be a bonus, but I would expect in the northern part of the country it would not be that big a deal, would it? I mean, my impression is that most Spanish speakers live in the south of the US. I hope, I am not fooling myself, because my Spanish is limited to "manana" that I learnt from my husband (who, having been born and bred in the US, does not know many more words in Spanish, either).

On the bright side, I speak Russian and German. I also worked as a physician in Austria as well as a post-Soviet country - without any interpreters. (OK, one of these languages is my mother tongue🙂). I hope, I will be able to find a position in a good-size US city with big Russian and German populations, so that I could put my language skills to use as a doctor again.

 

[rechaim]

I am sure Spanish would be a bonus, but I would expect in the northern part of the country it would not be that big a deal, would it? I mean, my impression is that most Spanish speakers live in the south of the US. I hope, I am not fooling myself, because my Spanish is limited to "manana" that I learnt from my husband (who, having been born and bred in the US, does not know many more words in Spanish, either).

On the bright side, I speak Russian and German. I also worked as a physician in Austria as well as a post-Soviet country - without any interpreters. (OK, one of these languages is my mother tongue🙂). I hope, I will be able to find a position in a good-size US city with big Russian and German populations, so that I could put my language skills to use as a doctor again.

Actually, the Hispanic population is also pretty much concentrated in NY/NJ. I live in NY and I am an immigrant that's why I know 🙂. 😉

 

[deleted77919]

I hope, I will be able to find a position in a good-size US city with big Russian and German populations, so that I could put my language skills to use as a doctor again.

I am currently a medical student in NYC. I have yet to run into a German speaker in the US whose English was not better than my German (and my German, while not native, is pretty good). Russian, however, would have come in handy a handful of times. Spanish would have come in handy daily. French would have been in between the usefulness of Spanish and Russian. Moral of the story, the translator phone is your friend.

Note: All this based off one summer working in the ED at a busy public hospital.

 

[Anasazi23]

I often say (partly in jest) that the best move I ever made was not taking Spanish classes. Those who are also residents in NYC might know what I'm talking about.

 

[rechaim]

I often say (partly in jest) that the best move I ever made was not taking Spanish classes. Those who are also residents in NYC might know what I'm talking about.

why?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

why?

I'm guessing because he'd be asked to translate ever 30 seconds, which would take away from more important duties.

-t

 

[jocg27]

I often say (partly in jest) that the best move I ever made was not taking Spanish classes. Those who are also residents in NYC might know what I'm talking about.

yeah...once people know you speak Spanish, you become the most popular person on the floor and will sometimes be pulled in several directions at once...

This is in Chicago, which if you're not from here might not be the first place you'd think of as very Hispanic...but we do have the 2nd largest Mexican population after LA, and the 2nd largest Puerto Rican population after NYC.

Russian is definitely useful here in hospitals in some neighborhoods, but probably not nearly as needed overall as Polish. I agree w/ the above poster that it's pretty rare to find a German speaker who doesn't speak better English than your German (often they speak better English than your English). Chinese seems like it's helpful here too.

 

[Anasazi23]

I'm guessing because he'd be asked to translate ever 30 seconds, which would take away from more important duties.

-t

That, and the fact that my caseload won't be heavily artificially skewed. The vast majority of our Hispanic population in our clinic, which is comprised of nearly 50% Hispanics, carry a diagnosis of anxiety and depression - which can be better translated to "my grandkids don't call enough and my son is in jail again, and therefore I'm sometimes sad about it. Give me my Klonopin."

A friend of mine in the clinic suggested we rebrand clonazepam to renew the patent as "My Klonopin."

As in, "Yes, I need a refill of the cymbalta, neurontin, and my Ambien and my Klonopin."

 

[nancysinatra]

Knowing Somali or Hmong in Minneapolis would help. The U of M was boasting about how the FIRST Somali student was attending its medical school a few years ago. There are large communities of both those cultures in the area.

 

[PeeWee137]

you can run into any language in new york. spanish wont do you any good in coney island. chinese wont help you in the south bronx. and even when the staff can collectively speak 10 different languages, a patient will come in that speaks something else!
even the bad broken italian that i know is only understood in the small town in sicily where my grandma was born. otherwise im pretty useless 👍

 

[rechaim]

I humbly disagree. Knowing Spanish can help you with 1/3 of your cases in NYC...

 

[PeeWee137]

I humbly disagree. Knowing Spanish can help you with 1/3 of your cases in NYC...

of course spanish can help with some cases. but its no lie that certain ethnic groups concentrate in certain areas. coney island (esp brighton beach) has an extremely large russian/ukranian population. it's nicknamed "little odessa" for a reason! just like astoria has the largest greek population outside of greece. its a safe bet that 90% of patients in these areas wont be speaking spanish. it depends on where you are. and now im hungry for a gyro 🙂

 

[Danica]

I'm not particularly sympathetic on this topic.

I moved from the US to another country when I was in my 20's and I damn well made every effort to master their language.

If any person moves to another country voluntarily, the solution is obvious. Learn the damn language instead of acting like everyone else should learn yours!

 

[manwhoisthursdy]

I'm not particularly sympathetic on this topic.

I moved from the US to another country when I was in my 20's and I damn well made every effort to master their language.

If any person moves to another country voluntarily, the solution is obvious. Learn the damn language instead of acting like everyone else should learn yours!

That sounds pretty damn irrelevant to the topic. Yes, it would be a good idea for non-English speakers who come the US to learn English ... but until they do, psychiatrists who are able to shouldn't care for them in their native language?

Even if they learn English, there are obvious reasons why it can be helpful to use their native language when possible.

Lots of patients from other countries may be refugees or seeking asylum, with psychiatric issues related to the situation in their home countries -- saying that they should learn English in order to get good care is just cruel. Helping them learn English, at a reasonable pace given their abilities, should just be one part of a comprehensive effort to help them heal and adapt to their new situation.

I agree we should learn the language of the country we are in, but I don't think this should have anything at all to do with our attitudes as physicians (or nurses, or teachers, or pastoral workers, or whatever).

 

[BabyPsychDoc]

That sounds pretty damn irrelevant to the topic. Yes, it would be a good idea for non-English speakers who come the US to learn English ... but until they do, psychiatrists who are able to shouldn't care for them in their native language?

Even if they learn English, there are obvious reasons why it can be helpful to use their native language when possible.

Lots of patients from other countries may be refugees or seeking asylum, with psychiatric issues related to the situation in their home countries -- saying that they should learn English in order to get good care is just cruel. Helping them learn English, at a reasonable pace given their abilities, should just be one part of a comprehensive effort to help them heal and adapt to their new situation.

I agree we should learn the language of the country we are in, but I don't think this should have anything at all to do with our attitudes as physicians (or nurses, or teachers, or pastoral workers, or whatever).

👍 I can only add that a) not everyone has sufficient intellectual potential to learn foreign languages (oddly enough, many people with mental illness would fall into this category) and b)even people with IQ in high average/above average range may struggle specifically with foreing language acquisition. And they all need help, regardless.

 

[!80s Love Child!]

Hey everyone,

I consider myself multilingual (well I speak fluent English, Tagalog/Filipino and a bit of Spanish). I really do hope to practise Child Psychiatry in California eventually (I'm thinking of doing it in UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Los Angeles ), and I was wondering which minority ethnic groups are to be found in California? You see, I'm not from there so I would not know.

I want to incorporate my lingual skills to my practice like other Psychiatrists too.🙂