Psych is just neurology that hasn't been figured out yet.
Ummm, no. Psychiatry emphasizes pathology of human behavior and cognition (i.e. mood and thought disorders, primary sleep disorders, reward system disorders, perceptual disorders, somatiform disorders, attention disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders etc), while neurology emphasizes more non-behavioral pathology (i.e. spinal cord injury, epilepsy, stroke, Parkinson's, ALS, migraines, MS, trigeminal neuralgia, myopathies, motor neuron diseases, post-infectious demyelenating disorders, structural deficits, etc), although, the distinction is arbitrary at best. Consider Parkinson's which presents with neurological problems (i.e. cogwheeling, rigidity, tremors) and psychiatric (depression, L-dopa-induced gambling, etc). Traditionally this has been referred to as the brain vs mind dichotomy (or structural vs functional), although again, the distinction is quite arbitrary, especially as we discover more of the organic/structural basis of psychiatric disorders.
In addition, there are a number of disorders, including tics, Huntington's disease, developmental delay, dementia, delirium, autism and narcolepsy, that are best characterized as "neuropsychiatric," and which usually require combined neurological and psychiatric intervention and assessment. I'd also like to point out that we probably know just as much about schizophrenia as we do about ALS, and our knowledge and understanding of both neurological and psychiatric disorders is limited at best when compared to other specialties. This, however, does not make them invalid, less scientific or less objective. It is no surprise that there is a common American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology which board certifies both psychiatrists and neurologists.
I also loved my first year neuroscience course and I was set on doing Neurology, even did a research project in the the field. Third year rolled around and I realized I was more interested in psychotic disorders, mood and anxiety disorders, addiction, personality disorders, etc than I was in SCI, MS, ALS, CVAs, Parkinson's, etc. Although, I was very surprised at how much overlap there was between the fields.
Psychiatry is an exciting and wonderful field, don't write it off because it's less "science-y" or not as "objective" as the rest of medicine. That's a bunch of crap, and related to the horrible stigma that both individuals suffering from mental illness and practitioners treating these disorders face.
My best recommendation to the OP is to work hard in medical school, learn everything, stay open-minded and then when third year rolls around, figure out how best to apply your passion for neuroscience, whether it be neurology, PM and R, psychiatry, pediatric neurology, ophthalmology, ENT or neurosurgery.
Hell, I could be the best doctor in the world with just a syringe of morphine....
