Becoming a psychiatrist

Hello! I am interested in becoming a psychiatrist, and I am confused on what to select for my major. I have done research on colleges with Clinical Psychology Phd programs, and it seems like it would be perfect for me. However, upon further research, it seems that clinical psychology and psychiatry and different professions. How should I go about in becoming a psychiatrist?

Psychiatry would be a MD, which would be UG in any major you want and then med school.

So would it be fine if I got a phd in clinical psychology first?

NO, completely different things. Post this in the pre med forum.

Yeah, they are two completely different career fields. Psychiatrists are doctors with MDs (or DOs) who are specially trained in the treatment of mental illnesses using medical principles. Most psychiatrists treat patients through prescription medications. Some provide talk therapy or other forms of therapy, but I don’t think they are automatically trained in the usage of therapy. You can major in anything in college (although it makes sense to major in psychology) and then go onto medical school, then a psychiatric residency.

Psychologists are PhD-trained in the fields of clinical or counseling psychology. You have to go to an APA-accredited PhD program for 5-6 years, and then do 1 year of a fellowship. Then you can get licensed to provide mental health care. Psychologists don’t have prescribing authority, so they mostly treat illness with talk therapy. If you want to be a talk therapist (you know - client comes to multiple sessions while you help them work through problems) then you probably want to be a psychologist instead of a psychiatrist. You’d need to major in psychology in undergrad and try to get 2-3 years’ worth of research experience by assisting a psychology professor in their lab.

You could also theoretically go to a PsyD program, which has the same requirements - must be APA-accredited and must do 1 year of fellowship. These programs are less rigorous and therefore usually about a year shorter - designed to take 4-5 years instead of 5-6. They are also easier to get into, and have less stringent research requirements. The trade off is that while PhD programs are typically fully funded - meaning your tuition and fees are covered and you earn a stipend to pay living expenses - PsyD programs typically are NOT. They expect you to fund the entire thing in loans. Which is not a great idea, given that psychologists don’t earn nearly what MDs do and you’ll be left paying a lot of money.

There are other careers that will allow you to provide mental health care:

  1. Psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP). Nurse practitioners are nurses who have extra, advanced training to prepare them to deliver primary care. NPs have authority to write prescriptions, so they can manage mental health with medication, but many of them also do talk therapy as well. Nowadays there are several routes to becoming a PMHNP. The most straightforward is to major in nursing in undergrad, get a BSN, and then pursue an MSN in psychiatric-mental health nursing. Another way is to major in whatever you want in undergrad, take the nursing prerequisites, and then enter a 3-year entry-to-practice program in which you earn your RN and MSN in three years after college. You can also break that up by getting an accelerated post-bachelor’s BSN and then going into a regular MSN program after finishing. Through any of these routes you can usually do the MSN portion of the degree part-time while you work as a nurse.

  2. Licensed clinical social worker (LCSW or LICSW, depending on the state). LCSWs are social workers who have special training to deliver mental health care. Most talk therapists are actually social workers, not psychologists. Social workers are not medically trained and cannot prescribe medication, so they operate exclusively on talk therapy. Social workers also have the benefit of being able to take non-therapeutic positions in other health care and social services facilities, but they get reimbursed at lower rates than psychologists and thus make less money. To become an LCSW, you can major in anything in undergrad and then go to a 2-year master’s in social work (MSW) program. The program has to offer LCSW training, so you have to choose carefully - not all do. Then there are specific licensure requirements you have to fulfill that vary by state but usually involve practicing for a few years under the supervision of a current LCSW before getting your own license.

  3. Mental health counselor/licensed practical counselor (LPC). These are master’s trained therapists who deliver talk therapy. They also do not have prescribing authority. To get licensed in this way, you go to a 2-year master’s program in mental health counseling and then fulfill some licensing requirements.