Hello,
I’m currently in my second year of undergrad planning on becoming a private practice child psychiatrist.
In order to do that would I need to attend graduate school? Do I just need a BA, clinical psych MA, med school and a PsyD along with internships and residency? Should I lean more towards a PhD? I’m lost and scared about my future.
If you want to be a psychiatrist, you need to go to Medical School and specialize in psychiatry after that. There isno need for an MA unless you need it to bolster your medical school application.
You will want to untangle the difference between child psychology (Usually a PhD, no med school) and child psychiatry (med school as outlined by the above post),
Undergrad BA or BS + medical school, internship, residency, child psychiatry specialization=child psychiatrist
Undergrad BA or BS+ Masters + PhD or direct entry PhD, PsyD, or EdD = child psychologist
After all of that–license allows for private practice.
If you realize that you are actually interested in psychology, the American Psychological Association published an excellent book that describes every graduate program in psychology in the country. I believe that this book i updated almost annually.
Are you sure that you want to be a psychiatrist, or do you just want to some kind of psychological therapist?
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses. So in order to be a psychiatrist, you would have to get an MD (or a DO), and then do a four-year residency in psychiatry. Psychiatrists generally see patients much like other physicians do - and they can prescribe psychiatric medication (like Prozac, Zoloft, etc.)
A psychologist is a mental health professional that treats clients through talk therapy. In most states, psychologists cannot prescribe psychiatric medication (although that’s beginning to change). To do that, you would do an undergraduate major in psychology and then get a PhD at an APA-accredited program in clinical or counseling psychology, then do a one-year internship to get licensed as a psychologist.
If you are interested in working with children, there are other options:
-A specialist-level master’s program or PhD in school psychology, which would license you to practice psychology in schools. School psychologists help children who need to overcome psychological issues to perform well in school. I have friends who are school psychologists and they said they spend a lot of time designing individualized education plans for students with special needs.
-A master’s degree in mental health counseling. In many states, this leads to licensure as a mental health professional (licensed professional counselor), but you have to practice “under the supervision” of a PhD-holding psychologist. Usually that means you can conduct your own sessions with your own clients, but you confer with a psychologist. I have two friends who are a master’s-holding mental health counselors in two different states and I don’t think either of them is supervised by a PhD-holding psychologist, though.
-A master’s degree in social work, and then licensure as a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW). Then you can work in schools or hospitals or in private or public mental health clinics/practices with children. I have a lot of social worker friends and they tell me that the vast majority of mental health professionals in the field are actually social workers, not psychologists.
I am looking to get a masters just so I can say I have one, plus it does bolster med school applications. I definitely want to go into psychiatry.
Later on in life, say if I want to become a professor, I would need a PhD, yes?
This is a poor reason to get a graduate degree, and likely a waste of time and money unless you need it for some reason.
Regarding being a professor later, the faculty at many (medical) schools is often composed of MDs and PhDs who teach and perform research. Keep in mind that the faculty at high-powered academic research instutitions tend to have long-term records of success in research, ie, faculty who have spent their career doing research and teaching. Many of the basic science courses in medical school are often taught by PhDs. However, clinical teaching positions are often filled by MDs (or DOs, of course), sometimes by ones who teach part-time while still practicing.
A generic master’s doesn’t necessarily bolster medical school applications. It depends on what the master’s is in, and how you do during it. Besides, there are a lot of less expensive and more practical ways to bolster a med school app if you want to take time between college and med school. (Besides, why would you care about “saying that you have one” if your plan is to get an MD? None of your MD colleagues will care that you have a master’s.)
And no, you don’t need the PhD to be a professor - you can be a professor with an MD (at a medical school, or a school of public health).