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Re: How do you deal with blood and guts if you want to be a

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(@Anonymous)
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I am thinking of going to med school for psych, but I'm really not interested in the blood and gore of specialities like surgery, etc. How do you deal with med school if you're just really interested in psych? Is it just one of those things that you just have to get through, or can you learn to enjoy it?


   
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(@Anonymous)
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I THINK THAT YOU HAVE TO DECIDE FOR PSYCHOLOGY WILL BE BETTER BECAUSE EVEN IF YOU ARE A PSYCHIATRIST YOU WILL DO CONSULTATIONS IN THE MED SURGERY FLOOR AND BLOOD AND EVERYTHING YOU WILL SEE IT. THINK ABOUT IT


   
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(@polymath)
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There is alot of stuff -- in med school and in life -- you may have to learn or go through despite its being far from your main interest or objective. Perhaps it is how to learn anatomy from a cadavar, or perhaps it is how to operate your VCR. Can you learn to enjoy these or must you just get through them? My take is that it is all a matter of attitude. If you want to make it easier and more pleasant on yourself, you find an attitude of openness and curiosity that can make even topics that are not interesting to you a little moreso. You are in control -- within limits -- of the attitude you choose to take. The tougher way to go -- though a road travelled by many -- is to just charge ahead tolerating the uninteresting for the sake of the goal at the end.


   
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(@drdave)
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Is it that the blood and gore are not interesting or do have a genuine phobia (fear) of either a cadaver or blood? Blood phobia is not that rare, and it can be a real barrier to being able to survive medical school.

If you just find it uninteresting, that is much easier to deal with - you just tolerate it - as there is going to be a part of any career that you don't find interesting. And actually, you will probably be surprised and find aspects of it that are much more interesting than you ever imagined.

If you truly have a phobia - things will be more challenging. However, I have known people with severe phobias who found ways to survive, even if they never fully overcame their fears. Cognitive behavioral therapy can be very effective for dealing with phobias, especially if you do systematic desensitization - it is a very challenging process, but one that works if you are motivated to confront your fears.

If you are "just really interested in psych" it would be helpful if you could clarify what you mean - are you saying you are only interested in becoming a psychiatrist, and not another type of doctor, or are you saying you ultimately want to do therapy and not deal with medications for mental illness? There are many people throughout the country who go to medical school, knowing they will ultimately pursue psychiatry as their career.


   
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(@corpsman-up)
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I think that Dr. Admin and Dr. Polymath have given great input on this, but I would also like to reframe the question.

I have a classmate who knows, already, that he wants to be an ophthalmologist. No ifs, ands or buts. He is an eye man. Wants to work on eyes. Eyes, eyes, eyes. He was a physicist before med school, and he is fascinated with optics and eyes. He even had our anatomy prof bring in some extra eyes for him to dissect on his own time.

My buddy was not really overly interested in the dissection of our cadaver's gluteal region, but he did it anyway. He doesn't want to go into peds, but he learns about kids and their runny noses and coughs and developmental delays anyway. He isn't at all interested in psychiatry, but he studies his butt off for the psychopharm exams like everybody else.

He does this because he wants to be a physician, and being an optometrist isn't the same thing. Becoming a physician requires more than most careers. I think it is worth it. So does my friend.

(That being said, I recognize that there are some significant differences in comparing optometry/ophthalmology and psychology/psychiatry, but I hope that the similarities make sense in this circumstance).

If you want to learn the most about psych, and its interplay with the human body, medicine is likely the way to go. If you are content learning solely about psych and counseling, maybe the allied health field is for you. That's something that only you can decide.

(Oh, and yeah, you can learn to enjoy some things that you didn't before. Other things... well, you just get through them because they are part of the course.)

Good luck!

Curtis Nordstrom
___________________________________
"Unum nihil, duos plurimum posse..."


   
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(@Anonymous)
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I am the original poster. Thanks for all your comments. It's not that I'm afraid of blood, etc, I just know that I want to go into psych, and I have less interest in surgery, ob/gyn, etc.

I guess I just wanted to make sure that my feelings weren't completely "abnormal". Of course I want to learn about medicine, but I'm fascinated by psychiatry, and I'm very confident that this is the specialty I would pursue.


   
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