I was wondering what medical schools offer Child Psychiatry. I found out Stanford has that major for med school but, I don’t really know any others. When I look this information up, I become quite frustrated because it almost always refers me to child psychology, which isn’t the same thing. Psychiatrist prescribe medication, while the psychologist do not.Since not many results popped up, I’m assuming there isn’t many med schools that offer my major. If anyone knows anymore schools that offer Child Psychiatry, please list them below, thank you!
Child psychiatry is a post-residency, fellowship-level subspecialty in psychiatry and not something that you can study either as an undergrad or as a med student.
(This explains why you couldn’t find information on most med school sites. Child psychiatry isn’t taught during med school.)
This means if you want to be a child psychiatrist (NOT a child psychologist), you first need to complete medical school, then apply for a medical residency in psychiatry (which lasts 4 years), then apply and be accepted into a fellowship for child & adolescent behavior (this lasts another 2 years).
So to become a child psychiatrist, it takes 10 years of post-college study. (4 years med school, 4 years psychiatry residency, 2 years fellowship)
https://residency.wustl.edu/CHOOSING/SPECDESC/Pages/Psychiatry.aspx
Here’s a list of fellowship programs in child & adolescent psychiatry:
https://services.aamc.org/eras/erasstats/par/display8.cfm?NAV_ROW=PAR&SPEC_CD=405
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Psychiatrist prescribe medication, while the psychologist do not
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This is not entirely true. Some states grant limited prescribing rights (to psychoactive medications) to PhD/PsyD board certified, state licensed psychologists.
It’s much too soon to be picking out med schools and specialties. For now, concentrate on getting into med school. Picking a specialty and subspecialty comes much later.
so is med school general for all types of doctors or do I have to find a psychiatry major within a med school?
Medical school doesn’t provide specialty training --that’s what residency is for. Med school provides the basic training in medicine for all types of doctors. After graduation, new doctors then are required to go to additional study to become a particular type of doctor. (Called a specialist.)
There are no such thing as “majors” in med school. During years 1-4, everyone studies the exact same thing.
Years 1-2 are all academic classes like pharmacology, pathology, anatomy, neuroscience, genetics, histology, biochemistry, statistics, public health, ethics, etc.
During your 3rd year of med school, every student will do clinical rotations in surgery, pediatrics, Ob/GYN, family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, psychiatry.
In your 4th year, you will do one or more intensive rotations in any fields that interest you, as well as any areas required by your particular med school.
thank you so much!