# Psychiatrist?



## Quin Sabe (Jan 26, 2010)

I was wondering if there were any Psychiatrists here.
I'm looking at it as career choice.

A few questions;

Is every patient a new mystery? Does it take time and skill to really get to know what is wrong and figure out how to help them?

Does it get repetitive?

Is the medical school part of it all that hard?

Do you really enjoy it? what are favorite highlights and what are the things you hate?

Is it a lot of listening to someone who's a little _off_ babble on and on and on?

Is there a pretty good research side to it?

I'm kinda curious about it and any help is appreciated.

If you know the ENTP profile do think it would be a good match, for one who wants to put his visionary, and problem skills to good use helping people?


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## HannibalLecter (Apr 18, 2010)

Not me.
Never even wanted to be a psychiatrist. If anything I wanted to be a psychologist.


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## Siggy (May 25, 2009)

I am not a psychiatrist, but I have worked with a few in the field. If you want to go that route, you need to take pre-med classes and have a good GPA to get into medical school. You'll be spending 4 years there with students who want to go into other medical disciplines. Dont expect to have too much talk time,thats the job of the pyschologists. Psychiatrists perscribe medications, order and review bloodwork. They also, hopefully, interact with other doctors and therapists to decide the best course of treatment. I've known some to spend as little as 15 minutes with a patient to see how the meds are working. And indeed that may be all thats needed if everything is going well. Obviously a thorough knowledge of medications, their side effects and interactions is vital.


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## Quin Sabe (Jan 26, 2010)

They pretty much just talk to the patient's therapist or psychologist and based off their description and diagnosis prescribe a medicine that they believe will work and not cause any interactions or problems?
Does it seem pretty repetitive and routine, sounds like they really are just a necessary evil for getting the patient meds.

I find the ideal trying to explore and help someone heal mental problems kinda fascinating.
But, I think be reading more mystery and nobility into it than it actually is.


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## Siggy (May 25, 2009)

Quin Sabe said:


> They pretty much just talk to the patient's therapist or psychologist and based off their description and diagnosis prescribe a medicine that they believe will work and not cause any interactions or problems?
> Does it seem pretty repetitive and routine, sounds like they really are just a necessary evil for getting the patient meds.
> 
> I find the ideal trying to explore and help someone heal mental problems kinda fascinating.
> But, I think be reading more mystery and nobility into it than it actually is.


And talk to the patient too of course. It can get routine, but psychiatrists are always on the look out through the patient and therapist, to behaviour changes. Thats where the detective work comes in. Is the change due to the medication no longer working or needing a stronger dose? which can happen, environmental factor, like a stressful event or somatic factors, like thyroid issues. Also pyschiatrists have to make a risk/benefit analysis. Many medications have undesireable side affects. They have to balance that with the benefits. It can get tricky. They also have to take the patients desires into account. Some patients may not want to be on certain medications, and the psychiatrists honor that.


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## Quin Sabe (Jan 26, 2010)

Thanks so much, your really being a great help.

Essentially each patient is a mystery that typically falls within certain parameters that can easily change rapidly.
A psychiatrist has to balance many, many different subtle factors to achieve the end result. Which takes a very diverse field of knowledge to handle. 
While they do not spend countless hours talking to a patient. They have examine the patient both pragmatically, physically, mentally, and at times through intuition to determine what factors are the probable cause. With help from the patients primary therapist/psychologist.
Psychology is a expanding, evolving field with much innovation left to be found. 

If this is true, I might have just narrowed my career choices down even tighter.


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## Siggy (May 25, 2009)

You have it. It takes an open mind to be a psychiatrist. And as you have correctly observed, things arent that simple or black and white. It, like all medical disciplines is art where science plays a role. 

If you are going to go into it. I think you'll be great


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## Quin Sabe (Jan 26, 2010)

Awesome, and again thank you, you've really helped me out here.:laughing:


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