What schooling do you have to go through to become a psychiatrist, and how many years is it?
2007-01-08 09:45:05 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Psychology
I am from the US.
2007-01-08 09:57:59 · update #1
After you finish high school:
Undergraduate degree - 4 years
Medical school - 4 years
Psychiatry residency - 2-5 years
2007-01-08 10:10:26 · answer #1 · answered by senlin 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well you need to excel at school enough to get into Uni at Dr. level. Then the usual length of time for the Uni degree and after that several years training to become a specialist and then post Uni training.
In other words it equates to a lot of years and dedication and a desire to help troubled minds that in most cases cannot be helped other than by drugs.
It is a very demoralising profession - are you aware of the high suicide rate amongst Psychiatrists???
I know people will say "someone's got to do it" and so be it, but when young and faced with career options it can seem a very interesting and noble career. Maybe you should try some psychology subjects first and take a deep interest in and get some work experience, i.e. working for careline or some similar type of endeavour to give you an insight into the kind of problems and personalities you will meet/deal with.
If like me, a Psych major, you find it frustrating to deal with what to you seems like straight forward and easy answers to problems only to find that many people are there own worst enemy and beyond help from others. Then it's not the profession for you. And it's a lot of years down the tube if at the end you find out you picked the wrong career.
Sorry to be so negative - give it a go - it might be right up your street but it's not for me - been there done that.
Got it!
2007-01-08 10:00:00 · answer #2 · answered by margo 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I'm sure you have to do a medical degree to be a psychiatrist (which makes it differ from a psychologist) and i would assume you need an undergrad at least in psychology or psychiartry. I'm assuming you in the US though in which case i can't specify years as i'm from UK (and even in UK i haven't looked it up completely).
2007-01-08 09:54:56 · answer #3 · answered by Shanti76 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I know that this field requires an undergraduate degree then completion of medical school.
2007-01-08 09:47:38 · answer #4 · answered by Nefertiti 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
all the schooling you need to get to medical school + medical school and then specializing in psychiatry.
2007-01-08 15:11:01 · answer #5 · answered by ELI 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋