I am a student interested in psychiatry. I have a lot of influence from my father in law who is an ER doctor to pursue a medical career. However I am also a psychology major and I am worried that I will not be able to treat patients using behavior modification. My philosophy is that you have to treat the individual as a whole, not only with medication but also therapy that addresses problems in the persons social surroundings i.e. parents, school, friends etc. basically implement coping mechanisms and education along with understanding of the illness. Would I be able to tailor my style of treatment to my beliefs about therapy or be stuck strictly prescibing medications? Is it practical to want to become a psychiatrist but still be so passionate about behaviorism? I think it is because to have/make a behavior something must change physiologically.
Well, heck, I would think that it is important for you stay true to your views!
Regardless of where you attend medical school, just make sure that you check out psychiatry residency programs really well before you go for the residency match. (This is in the 4th year of med school, so you have some time). Some residencies are more therapy-friendly than others.
Now, I am not a psychiatrist, I am a medical student, but from what I have seen so far, people practice the kind of medicine that they want to practice. If you want to focus less on med management, and more on therapy, you'll likely be able to do just that. However, I think that even if you are utilizing therapy and other tools, you will be all the more effective with your pharmacological knowledge and expertise to augment treatment... IMHO.
Finally, again, a psychiatrist who recently spoke at my school recommended that budding physicians who WANT to train in therapy make absolutely certain that they will be well-trained in psychotherapy in any residency program, before applying there. So, as long as you go into medical school and the residency match with your eyes open, you should be fine.
Oh, and with your holistic views, I would also recommend that you check out some osteopathic medical schools, which are often big into that type of care (and yes, if you are not familiar with osteopathic medicine -- DO's -- you can be a psychiatrist).* I hear that there were some in Doc Admin' residency program, even.
*This shameless plug paid for by a DO student.
Best of luck to you! 😀
Curtis Nordstrom
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"Unum nihil, duos plurimum posse..."
Personally, I think psychiatry will stay in better shape if many psychiatrists remain interested in doing psychotherapy as one of numerous therapeutic modalities instead of ceding therapy to non-MD's. My practice is about 70% therapy or therapy plus meds and 30% medication alone. Even with medication visits, though, there is the opportunity to make interventions that may help in other areas of a person's life.
I agree that it would be very important to get good psychotherapy training in residency if you wish to practice therapy after. One point I would make however: I would encourage you to be open to the numerous other psychotherapeutic approaches that exist, not just behavioral treatments. Why limit yourself to one approach? You might then be better able to tailor your psychotherapies to the specific and varied needs of individual patients.
Thank you both for your opinions. They really do help, this website is great I am so glad to have found it. I will take the advice about exploring more options for therapy, I really enjoy existential aspects and CBT. Do you have any recomendations for a good book or a direction to point me in to explore more therapies. I am interested in anything up and coming, lesser known etc. I am done with my psych major so I have some idea but a lot of times your scope is limited to your professors ideas. Thanks again!!!!!