Would anyone be able to tell me about a Doctorate in Psychology or about Psychiatry as a career choice?

Question

I am a Freshman at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY with an Undeclared major. I am very interested in this field, I just do not know much about what classes are like (including the curriculum) or daily tasks for a career in Psychiatry other than therapy sessions. Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Hi, I'm going to school for nursing but it's always possible that I might change it to psychiatry so I know a little bit about this. My first choice was psych but I'm a little older and didn't want to spend that much time in school and that's why I went with my second choice which is nursing.

Okay for starters you need to think of a field close to medicine that you can fall back on if you change your mind and that way you won't be wasting any time with unnecessary classes. What I'm saying is to pick something that will require the same classes. Like a bachelor of science will require all of the sciences and stuff like that and so will a bachelor of science nursing or even premedical but if you choose to go with premedical then you're pretty much stuck to going all the way. One thing I've learned in life is that you never know what is going to happen so you have to plan ahead. Something might happen that prevents you from going all the way so then you kind of have a degree that you can't do anything with. Anyway choose a degree that will get some good use. My suggestion is a bachelor of science nursing or just a bachelor of science with a minor in psychology.

Moving along, you will need to go to medical school to get to the psychiatry degree. I can not express to you how important your GPA is if you are going to do this so study hard.

It's pretty much like this...

you choose your major

3 years into the bachelor degree, you will take your MCAT test to get into medical school.

you will apply to the medical schools and go in for an interview with the schools that you have chosen

Once you get accepted, you finish off your last year at your current college and then head off to med school.

Just a tip:
my local medical school is UTMB Galveston and I looked up the average GPA of their incoming students and it was a 3.75

I probably told you stuff that you already know so sorry but I tried.

Answer 2

Psychiatry is a field of medicine, so if you are interested in psychiatry, you would need to be pre-med and attend medical school with additional training in psychiatric medicine. Most psychiatrists do not do therapy, but instead work in psychiatric hospitals or in private practice with diagnosing and treating disorders that require medications, especially things like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc.

As for Psychology, as a major, you will find it to be very scientific and biological. There probably won't be many classes dealing with how to be a therapist or a counselor - most psych classes deal with how the brain works and processes information. You'll find social psych and personality classes to be the more people-oriented courses. Others like abnormal, cognitive, perception all will be more scientific.

You can't do a ton with a psych major other than go to grad school. If you are really interested in the field you can do a Ph.D. in psych or if you want to do counseling, a fantastic grad degree to get is an MFT (Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy) - normally a 2 year graduate program, which, upon completion, you can open a practice and begin counseling clients.

Good luck to you!

Answer 3

Theres only one difference between to to psychology is simply counseling and similar work, psychiatry means that you have a medical degree behind it. A psychologist can not dispense medicine, while a psychiatrist can. The careers are similar and it all depends on what field you intend in going into. Unless your really into meds Id suggest psychologist and when you get right down to it, if your desire is helping people aim for counselor certification, its considered counseling but counselors do more or less the same as psychologists, but pull a smaller pay.

Answer 4

Psychiatry is a branch of medicine. So you have to get fantastically good marks and letters of references to get into med school, then you go through med school, then you go through 4 years of residence (post-med schoo training) in psychiatry. By far, at least in my little corner of the world, most psychiatrists have what they call a "biological" orientation--they prescribe medication and see their patients for short apppointments (15 minutes tops) to see how the meds are working.That doesn't mean that you have to practice this way. A good friend of mine is a psychiatrist and does mainly thereapy, although he does prescribe meds. There are also a number of other psychiatrists doing so.

As for psychology, well, a 4-year bachelor's degree qualifies you to pump gas. You need to get into a post-graduate program. In most jursidictions in North America, this means a Ph.D or a Psy.D., essentially at least another 4 to 5 years of training.

As another person answering this question stated, there are other very good qualifications that allow you to practice thereapy. If couples and families are your area of interest, then the post-graduate training offered by the American Association for Marriage and Family Thereapy is very good. A Master's degree in clinical soclai work can also offer you very good training.

Speaking as someone who has worked with both psychologsts and psychiatrists, my advice is, if you think you're bright enough and can stomach the workload, become a psychiatrist. I hate to sound like a cynic, but the power that having an M.D. degree gives you also give you a lot more clout in treating your patients. Whereas if you're a psychologist, you're "just a psychologist."

Answer 5

Why don't you visit the department in your University and talk to the students and teachers and/or admissions officers?
You could find tons of information on-line about both career choices and departments of psychiatry/psychology, both in the undergrad and post-grad level.
Most accurate info on the actual "job" of a psychiatrist would be to talk to one and find what inspired him and what he likes or not in his profession. There are many different specialties though, make some research before you approach someone.
Best of Luck!