2. Career Area, Related Occupations A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists must be doctors of medicine and may prescribe psychiatric medication, so psychiatry’s career area is mostly medical. Related occupations include ER physicians, and psychologists.
3. Job Description Psychiatrists specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental, addictive, and emotional disorders. Psychiatrists commonly treat: anxiety, depression, developmental disabilities, psychosis, substance abuse, and sexual dysfunction. Psychiatrists talk to patients and the patients’ family members to learn more about them, and then help the patient understand their disease or dysfunction so that they can treat them.
4. Education/Training and Salary In the United States, a future psychiatrist must first complete their Bachelor’s degree. They may choose their major but must enroll in certain courses, commonly outlined in a pre-medical program. Next, they must attend four years of medical school. Following this, they must be a psychiatric resident for at least four years. They must spend four post-graduate months studying internal medicine or pediatrics, and two months studying neurology. After this, they must take exams for certification. In the United States, you’ll need approximately 8 years of training. The hard work is worth it though, because the average salary of a psychiatrist is around 185,000.
5. Places for Psychiatry Training Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia University of Florida University of Virginia Boston University
6. Why I’m Interested, Skills Needed to Succeed Important skills include listening skills, reading comprehension skills, good speaking skills, negotiation skills, and writing skills. Also, you must be able to learn strategies, solve complex problems, be good at critical thinking, and have good social perceptiveness. I would enjoy this job because I like the idea of talking to people and trying to get inside their minds. Also, I love to help people solve their problems.
