What made you want to go into psych?

[Proudfather94]

Just curious if alot of people on here discovered it on rotations, have a family member/thereself struggle with a mental illness, or had a rough upbringing and wanted to help others that did as well.

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[slowthai]

It was through rotations. I've seen some of the most miraculous turnarounds in such a short period of time in this field. I marveled at these things, and they just confirmed my desire to enter this field.

It was the only field where I felt like we were doing real work that was highly valuable. The "realness" of the work is inherently tied to the humanness of the work. There's just a weightiness to it that dealing with hypertension and diabetes just doesn't have.

I love the fact that we spend a significant amount of time learning how to understand people. I love the applicability of the skills we develop to real life! I love the fact that we do not touch patients. I love the fact that we are specialists, so we leave most of the medicine-y stuff to medicine people.

We work to make life worth living. It's the most beautiful thing. Sometimes I feel like we almost snuck into medicine because of how unique this field is.

 

[ridethecliche]

I like turtles

 

[ResidentAnonymous001]

It was through rotations. I've seen some of the most miraculous turnarounds in such a short period of time in this field. I marveled at these things, and they just confirmed my desire to enter this field.

It was the only field where I felt like we were doing real work that was highly valuable. The "realness" of the work is inherently tied to the humanness of the work. There's just a weightiness to it that dealing with hypertension and diabetes just doesn't have.

I love the fact that we spend a significant amount of time learning how to understand people. I love the applicability of the skills we develop to real life! I love the fact that we do not touch patients. I love the fact that we are specialists, so we leave most of the medicine-y stuff to medicine people.

We work to make life worth living. It's the most beautiful thing. Sometimes I feel like we almost snuck into medicine because of how unique this field is.

This! <3

 

[shoenberg3]

Out of all medical specialties, psychiatry provides the most opportunities to incorporate non-medical perspectives (e.g. psychosocial, ethical/philosophical aspects) to practice. Relatively speaking, at least. As someone who majored in humanities and has a wide range of interests, this was important to me.

Plus, the lifestyle ain't so bad either..

 

[comp1]

I really, powerfully, disliked my other rotations. Outside of psychiatry (and peds to a much lesser extent) all of the residents and most of the attendings seemed deeply unhappy and overworked.

 

[Proudfather94]

It was through rotations. I've seen some of the most miraculous turnarounds in such a short period of time in this field. I marveled at these things, and they just confirmed my desire to enter this field.

It was the only field where I felt like we were doing real work that was highly valuable. The "realness" of the work is inherently tied to the humanness of the work. There's just a weightiness to it that dealing with hypertension and diabetes just doesn't have.

I love the fact that we spend a significant amount of time learning how to understand people. I love the applicability of the skills we develop to real life! I love the fact that we do not touch patients. I love the fact that we are specialists, so we leave most of the medicine-y stuff to medicine people.

We work to make life worth living. It's the most beautiful thing. Sometimes I feel like we almost snuck into medicine because of how unique this field is.

Definitely seems like it's your calling! What was the original specialty you were interested in?

 

[Proudfather94]

Out of all medical specialties, psychiatry provides the most opportunities to incorporate non-medical perspectives (e.g. psychosocial, ethical/philosophical aspects) to practice. Relatively speaking, at least. As someone who majored in humanities and has a wide range of interests, this was important to me.

Plus, the lifestyle ain't so bad either..

Honestly that stands out alot to me as well. Using your experiences and perspective to communicate with patients to help them is really appealing.

 

[Merovinge]

I really, powerfully, disliked my other rotations. Outside of psychiatry (and peds to a much lesser extent) all of the residents and most of the attendings seemed deeply unhappy and overworked.

That's a tough way to train. I would say most Peds, most FM, around 1/2 of the surgeons including subspecialties, most Gas, most path and 1/2 of rads were happy as a clam (and of course basically 100% of the psych). I did spent time around deeply unhappy Ob/gyn folks (including an attending that broke down into tears during a lecture to the M3s) and it sure left a mark on me.

 

[Sushirolls]

Condensed version, I was heading towards surgery.
Psychiatry was captivating at patient level (state hospital and psychosis, capgras, etc) and with reading of topic material.
Thought I could have a longer go of it with psychiatry compared to surgery.
Fast forward in time...
Its a job.
I look forward to transitioning out of medicine into farming.

 

[Cath Up]

We are inherently social creatures- discourse and social dynamics never get old. There are a lot of old psychiatrists. I liked this.

You can have a sick mind and healthy body and not enjoy life. Psychiatry addresses this. You can have a healthy mind and sick body and still enjoy life. Psychiatry confronts one’s actual experience and enjoyment of life. I liked this.

We don’t know very much about the mind, and the medications are mysterious to others. It is very gratifying to offer comfort in uncertainty and to demystify things as much as you can.

 

[slowthai]

Definitely seems like it's your calling! What was the original specialty you were interested in?

Ortho. The more time I spent in the OR, the more I wanted to just collapse into the floor.

 

[slowthai]

I really, powerfully, disliked my other rotations. Outside of psychiatry (and peds to a much lesser extent) all of the residents and most of the attendings seemed deeply unhappy and overworked.

Me too. Hated everything else to infinity and beyond

 

[DOswag]

Worked as an ER tech premed for 3 years and was dead set on EM. Psychiatry wasn't even on my list of considerations for specialties until MS3 when I did an outpatient psych rotation through the VA. Heard so many patients express to me that without seeing a psychiatrist, they were pretty certain they'd be dead at this point but felt the impact the psychiatrist had on them was so profound. I had been so sure of myself that I was going into EM or maybe FM for a little while that I went through a little period of confusion with what I wanted to go into. 4th year did some EM rotations and was really wondering if EM was what I really wanted, was I not cut out for EM, was I just a burned out med student? I applied EM through the mil match and was deferred for a transitional intern year which ended up being a huge blessing. Did some more time in psych on an inpatient unit in my intern year and just fell in love with it then reapplied psychiatry 2nd time around and matched. Been out of residency for over 5 years now and cannot imagine how miserable I'd be if I went EM. Very happy with my life right now, schedule and lifestyle is great, I enjoy talking with patients. I was in the military for a while which was a drag for sure but now that I'm on the civ side, things are muuuuuuuch better.