Psychiatry hopefuls

[Dian Cecht]

Anyone else who is in their late thirties that are interested in psychitary?

Whats your story?

[jehube]

It's a long road (9 years assuming you were starting this year), and no guarantee you'll even get into a psychiatry program after finishing medical school as they have been trending more competitive for the last several years. I would think long and hard about what it is that attracts you to psychiatry and make sure you couldn't fulfill that goal through alternate means (e.g., clinical psychology, which is shorter training but also competitive, or perhaps as a therapist after MSW or OT training).

[MSWschnoodle]

7 hours ago, Dian Cecht said:

Anyone else who is in their late thirties that are interested in psychitary?

Whats your story?

In my late 30s and currently a psych resident. DM me with questions or for the full story but in short I have several degrees, have been on a few different career tracks (some cool, some less cool) all with long term jobs and was a late arrival to medicine. Went in to medicine wanting psych, tried a few other things that were cool but psychiatry is where my heart lies. 

In terms of the suggestion above of doing clinical psychology or an MSW instead of psychiatry: I have an MSW (and practiced with it) and many of the things you do in psychiatry are very different from what you do with an MSW. There is an area of overlap but you need to be *really* sure you want to only do that small slice of the full breadth of psychiatric practice if you decide to go the alternate direction. As a psychiatrist you can narrow your practice to a small slice if you want to or broaden it out if you find things getting stale. The same can be said for MSW or. Psychology but each one broadens in a different direction and there will be skills/activities in each that are unique. You need to make sure you're in the right circle of the Venn diagram when it comes to these 3 routes. 

In terms of time investment, an MD+ psychiatry is going to be 8-10 years (3 or 4 years medical school + 5 year residency +/- fellowship if you have a subspecialty interest). An MSW would be shorter at ~5-6 years (depending on program and thesis vs. capstone) if you determine that an MSW would give you the practice you want. Clinical psychology requires graduate level training (PhD in most provinces, Masters in a few select locations) so it's not much shorter than the route to psychiatry... especially when you consider that residents get paid a lot more than most graduate students. You'll have to weigh the length of training vs. pay vs. desired practice variables. 

Sure psych has gotten a bit more competitive but realistically a majority of people who want psych as their first choice still get it. It's a fun discipline with a decent lifestyle. The co-workers and co-residents you get to hang out with are pretty great. Being an older applicant in psych is often an advantage (life experience pays dividends in this discipline) and you can have a lot of career longevity if you want it (there are plenty of 70+ year old psychiatrists still working).

 

[Haribo7173]

Love the psych love <3

[Dian Cecht]

17 hours ago, MSWschnoodle said:

In my late 30s and currently a psych resident. DM me with questions or for the full story but in short I have several degrees, have been on a few different career tracks (some cool, some less cool) all with long term jobs and was a late arrival to medicine. Went in to medicine wanting psych, tried a few other things that were cool but psychiatry is where my heart lies. 

In terms of the suggestion above of doing clinical psychology or an MSW instead of psychiatry: I have an MSW (and practiced with it) and many of the things you do in psychiatry are very different from what you do with an MSW. There is an area of overlap but you need to be *really* sure you want to only do that small slice of the full breadth of psychiatric practice if you decide to go the alternate direction. As a psychiatrist you can narrow your practice to a small slice if you want to or broaden it out if you find things getting stale. The same can be said for MSW or. Psychology but each one broadens in a different direction and there will be skills/activities in each that are unique. You need to make sure you're in the right circle of the Venn diagram when it comes to these 3 routes. 

In terms of time investment, an MD+ psychiatry is going to be 8-10 years (3 or 4 years medical school + 5 year residency +/- fellowship if you have a subspecialty interest). An MSW would be shorter at ~5-6 years (depending on program and thesis vs. capstone) if you determine that an MSW would give you the practice you want. Clinical psychology requires graduate level training (PhD in most provinces, Masters in a few select locations) so it's not much shorter than the route to psychiatry... especially when you consider that residents get paid a lot more than most graduate students. You'll have to weigh the length of training vs. pay vs. desired practice variables. 

Sure psych has gotten a bit more competitive but realistically a majority of people who want psych as their first choice still get it. It's a fun discipline with a decent lifestyle. The co-workers and co-residents you get to hang out with are pretty great. Being an older applicant in psych is often an advantage (life experience pays dividends in this discipline) and you can have a lot of career longevity if you want it (there are plenty of 70+ year old psychiatrists still working).

 

I thought about clinical psychology, as wonderful as psychology is I feel its been a doctor is what I want to be and what that entails.