psychology or psychiatry?

Question

I know that I want to college for one or the other, but I can't bring myself to decide which one! I am planning on majoring in one or the other, and then minoring in photography. So my mom says that I would get more use out of a degree in psychiatry because I'd be able to give medication and drugs and stuff thus getting more money and an overall better use, but after I researched all the different schools that I would have to attend and how many years I would have to go to school, I'm not so sure. I really want to go into child psychology/psychiatry, though i can't bring myself to decide what I want to do! What are your recommendations?

Answer 1

Your mom is right about psychiatry. You would have the ability to dispense meds and would make more money as a physician. The downside is that you would have to go through med school and a residency. If you wanted to get married and start a family you might find that really stressful.
Also, there aren't too many female psychiatrists, so you might find it a bit lonely and discriminatory.

As a child psychologist you could work in a school or clinic setting. You could work in some environments with "just" a MA or MS degree, and it might be easier for you to continue with your photography work. However, you don't need a degree to be a photographer, especially if you're doing it as a hobby, for recreation.

Answer 2

Psychiatry takes a med degree, so you'd spend your undergrad years taking a lot of pre-med, then medical school.

Do you love taking science classes?

You probably don't have to decide now. Maybe put off the decision until after you've done your GE classes.

You could always go into psychology, and then later go for the other.

Don't go into something for money; it's your whole working life we're talking about here. Don't be miserable; figure out which you WANT.

When you get to college, you can talk to other students, and grad students, and professors, and get a much better idea of what each entails.

Answer 3

You can only have a major in Psychology. Psychiatry you study in medical school. If psychiatry is a field you want to pursue then you major in Psychology and take on a pre-med concentration to get into med school.

Answer 4

The first two years of college are almost the same for either area of study. You have to take your composition, math, science, etc. for both. So maybe you will go pre-med, but know that for the first two years, you won't lose anything if you switch. Take a college class in psychology. Who knows, maybe you will end up majoring in architecture in the end, because of a general elective class you took.

(don't sweat it, I'm saying. You're too young to force the choice, and there is no reason to do that at this point). Go to a smaller college too. In a big university, undergraduates get lost because nobody cares about you.

Answer 5

BTW, a psychiatrist IS a medical professional and must complete 4 years of medical school before completing a 4 year psychiatric residency. Maybe that doesn't make them less annoying, but they are real doctors. A psychologist however, is not a medical doctor. I see both types of these people in my line of work. Some are just like you describe, and some you would never know what they do unless you already knew before hand. It seems to attract all kinds.

Answer 6

Do you want to counsel and offer coping alternative and help children deal with their emotions through cognitive reasoning and deductive reasoning or...
Do you believe in medicating and then offering counseling as well while a child is on medicine?

You have to figure out where you stand. I took psychology not psychiatry because I don believe in medicating children and more money is not going to alter my beliefs and values.

Answer 7

You get a bachelor´s and a masters in psychology-FIRST if you want to become a counselor or enter a human service career, or one of the many other career fields in psychology.

IF you want to be a doctor. Then you get your doctorate in Psychiatry, only after getting your BS and MS in psychology or another qualifying field of study.

Answer 8

It would depend on where your interests lie. If you prefer the scientific and medical side then psychiatry is probably better. If you'd rather concentrate on the talking and therapy side of things, then psychology would be better.
Long story short:
psychiatry = science
psychology = talk

Answer 9

You have to first become an M.D. to be a psychiatrist. A psychologist only needs a master's degree in psychology.

Answer 10

psychiatry requires going thru medical school.