Will you have a life outside of a psychiatry residency?

[futureherooftime622]

Hello there,

I know it completely depends on the program and the location. I want to do psychiatry but I'm wondering what the lifestyle is like during residency training? Will you have time for a hobby, etc.? For me personally the moment I begin residency I would like to do some volunteering/philanthropy and devote a large chunk of time to that because it's my passion. Would I be able to? Can anyone speak from experience? Thanks!

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[MacDonaldTriad]

A large chunk is possible, but not recommended. Keep in mind the student's responsibility in the learning contract and decide how much you can devote to activities outside of training. If you want to become good at this specialty, the answer is you can devote some chunk, but probably not a very large chunk. You don't have to be an automaton in training, but you have to be clearly devoted and fairly intense to be excellent. This isn't to the exclusion of life, but it is your main mission for 4 years. There will be time for philanthropy and you are more valuable as a well trained psychiatrist if you want to volunteer down the road.

 

[futureherooftime622]

Hi there,

You're absolutely right. It's just I have a big dream and I was hoping by starting my philanthropy when residency comes around, I could get a headstart to my goal. You have a point though, once I'm qualified it will be easier

 

[Bartelby]

Keep in mind most programs get easier with time. In PGY 1-2 you will probably not have enough time and/or energy for major outside commitments. In PGY 3 it is more doable for many programs. In PGY 4 you are likely to have significant free time.

 

[Monocles]

Depends on the intensity of your program and how efficient you are as a resident. Pgy 1 and 2 years were definitely pretty overwhelming for me (I stayed with 2 low commitment university clubs and that was about it), this year my hours are much better (~30 + call) per week but I just feel so emotionally drained from the past 3 years that every day I just get home and sleep haha.

I wouldn't do it. Residency is anywhere from like having 1 to 1.5 full time jobs.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

You can probably craft some PGY-IV elective time to fit both needs. You can do good things and get training credit if you plan it right.

 

[futureherooftime622]

Thanks for all the advice! I'm just wondering though...I have a strong interest in advocacy. and on the american academy of psychiatry and child psych website there are opportunities for residents and fellows to start their own advocacy projects. Would i be able to do this?

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Yes, that is what they are for. Most residents who participate in these are senior residents for a reason however so wait and apply PGY-II and do it in PGY-III and IV.

 

[futureherooftime622]

So you have to apply to do these advocacy projects? What are they looking for?

So you can't start in your first year?

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

there are a lot of "fellowship" funded things that can get you to meetings and such. Not much will happen in your first year because by the time you get focused on something, you will rotate to ward medicine and that will be all you can handle.

 

[Stagg737]

So you can't start in your first year?

You could, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it...

 

[FFH]

Have you started medical school yet? I hope you will only consider medicine, psychiatry or not, if learning how to doctor and doctoring are your passion, instead of being in the way for you to pursuing your other passions.

Maybe consider MPH or MPP, you get to concentrate on advocacy work and you'll actually learn how to do it, which you won't get from medical school or residency.

 

[futureherooftime622]

I'm in my final year of medical school. My goal is to use medicine as a platform for advocacy.

 

[Evidence Based]

I'm in my final year of medical school. My goal is to use medicine as a platform for advocacy.

I'm a psych PGY-1 with a big interest in advocacy as well, and it can definitely be a part of your career and part of your residency. It will definitely be a small minority of your time intern year, and likely for most of residency as well. You can have a good work life balance in psych, but that doesn't mean you have oodles of energy when you get home to work hard at something else every day. Just means you might get more time with family, friends, relaxed hobbies, etc. It's certainly possible to do good work, especially if you can work it into protected time for research, QI, advocacy, etc. Starting your own no-profit or NGO might be a tall order though

 

[futureherooftime622]

I'm a psych PGY-1 with a big interest in advocacy as well, and it can definitely be a part of your career and part of your residency. It will definitely be a small minority of your time intern year, and likely for most of residency as well. You can have a good work life balance in psych, but that doesn't mean you have oodles of energy when you get home to work hard at something else every day. Just means you might get more time with family, friends, relaxed hobbies, etc. It's certainly possible to do good work, especially if you can work it into protected time for research, QI, advocacy, etc. Starting your own no-profit or NGO might be a tall order though

Have you gotten to do any advocacy during your intern year? What kind of advocacy are you interested in doing?

 

[NickNaylor]

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved with advocacy work as a psychiatrist, but as mentioned above this can be challenging as a trainee. I agree that, during training, your primary mission is to become an excellent psychiatrist - full stop. That doesn't mean that you can't be involved in other things, but extensive, non-clinical work necessarily requires a sacrifice somewhere - i.e., your training.

Look into APA fellowships as there are a couple that are advocacy-based. Consider applying for the White House Fellows program later in your training or early in your career if you're interested in that side of things. Volunteer with your local APA branch. Get involved with NAMI.

There are plenty of opportunities, but the real question is what all you can commit to while still prioritizing your training.

 

[futureherooftime622]

There are plenty of opportunities to get involved with advocacy work as a psychiatrist, but as mentioned above this can be challenging as a trainee. I agree that, during training, your primary mission is to become an excellent psychiatrist - full stop. That doesn't mean that you can't be involved in other things, but extensive, non-clinical work necessarily requires a sacrifice somewhere - i.e., your training.

Look into APA fellowships as there are a couple that are advocacy-based. Consider applying for the White House Fellows program later in your training or early in your career if you're interested in that side of things. Volunteer with your local APA branch. Get involved with NAMI.

There are plenty of opportunities, but the real question is what all you can commit to while still prioritizing your training.

Thank you so much for your reply. I'm just wondering I was having a look at the AACAP website (I want to specialise in child and adolescent psychiatry), and there is something called the trainee advocate program (TAP). Would you be able to speak about this? I was reading up a bit about this and it said that it gives trainees an opportunity to start their own advocacy projects. How much time can they devote to these projects during training?

 

[When is graduation again?]

I relate to your post and have experienced similar feelings since residency. It is possible to start PGY1...if you plan well. If you're serious about your advocacy ideas and/or your ideas aren't tied to a specific location, you could lay a basic foundation for yourself now with plans for improve and work on your idea during lighter rotations.

For instance, my 4th year of med school was super chill, so I taught myself to code and the basics of CBT and made a basic CBT app before starting intern year. Then I improved on it during a call heavy rotation with light workload. I've started coding another app recently, which I plan to finish hopefully in 6 months to a year. This works a lot better though if your side projects are somehow tied to Psych, so that you can make yourself a better psychiatrist while advancing your other goals... though as others have said it can be tricky.

 

[futureherooftime622]

I relate to your post and have experienced similar feelings since residency. It is possible to start PGY1...if you plan well. If you're serious about your advocacy ideas and/or your ideas aren't tied to a specific location, you could lay a basic foundation for yourself now with plans for improve and work on your idea during lighter rotations.

For instance, my 4th year of med school was super chill, so I taught myself to code and the basics of CBT and made a basic CBT app before starting intern year. Then I improved on it during a call heavy rotation with light workload. I've started coding another app recently, which I plan to finish hopefully in 6 months to a year. This works a lot better though if your side projects are somehow tied to Psych, so that you can make yourself a better psychiatrist while advancing your other goals... though as others have said it can be tricky.

Thats great advice, thank you so much for sharing with me! I obviously don't have an idea about a specific advocacy project as of yet. Once I start residency, is there anyone who would be willing to guide me/help me get started?

 

[When is graduation again?]

Thats great advice, thank you so much for sharing with me! I obviously don't have an idea about a specific advocacy project as of yet. Once I start residency, is there anyone who would be willing to guide me/help me get started?

I think that depends on where you end up for residency, but usually there are people in most programs that would be able to mentor you. Otherwise @NickNaylor 's point of going for a fellowship, APA or otherwise, or any of the other programs he mentioned above would be a good start.

 

[Evidence Based]

Have you gotten to do any advocacy during your intern year? What kind of advocacy are you interested in doing?

I've been able to do some advocacy intern year, mostly continuing involvement in previous organizations I've worked with. Think on the order of 1-2 hours a week at most.
I guess it would help if you were a little more specific about what "advocacy" means to you. Is it getting involved with a non-profit? Doing some work with NAMI or another group like that? Community organizing? Health policy? "Advocacy" is a very vague term, and it takes a ton more effort develop something from scratch vs continuing what you've been doing. If it has more of a QI, research, or maybe health policy angle you'll have an easier time getting protected time, but this will likely be mostly during PGY-4.

I think it bears out repeating that residency is very very busy, and you will not be able to spend the majority or even a substantial minority of your time doing advocacy work (if that's what you want) during training. Do you have any mentors at your medical school who can give you more advice on this?

 

[dassie]

I was pretty involved in my state medical society in med school and wanted to continue in advocacy in residency... it was tough for the first two years, but by PGY3, I had enough time to have a dog again, picked up old hobbies, started working on my own electives for 4th year with my PD and mentors. In my PGY4 year - I have a half day a week I get to dedicate to advocacy work and community organizing. It rules and you can definitely do it.

If I had to do it over, I would definitely try to identify a mentor earlier and try to get connected with local groups that I align with earlier, so I wouldn't have felt as rushed in my PGY3 year trying to develop a plan for what I was going to do with my elective time while adjusting to the outpatient schedule/demands. Alternately, if you're not into the community organizing part you could look into an MPH or a "concentration" to do in residency around health policy or something. Some residencies will have tracks you can do that might be more or less conducive to advocacy or philanthropy (like public psychiatry tracks).

 

[bisell26]

I'm raising kids in my residency as a PGY-3 so it's definitely doable.