<p>When Psychiatrists go to Medical School , do they take the same classes as others who are pursuing degrees in Medicine ? &What type of classes do they take ?</p>
<p>Please give me feedback. I'm really confused on this! Thanks.</p>
<p>Everyone takes the same classes in med school regardless of whether you want to be a surgeon, pediatrician, or psychiatrist. The difference is in the residency training after graduation from med school.</p>
<p>Oh Okay. So does that mean i’ll have to be good in physics and chemistry?</p>
<p>It does mean that, yes. Because psychiatrists are physicians whose area of expertise is mental illness.</p>
<p>In many medical schools, there are electives in the fourth year (or at least, there were way back when), so that medical students could learn about different medical specialties or sub-specialties before they sought residencies, and also so that they could go do a rotation as a visiting medical student at a hospital where they thought they might want to do a residency. Thus, one medical student might do elective rotations in dermatology as a fourth-year, while others might do rotations in obstetrics or otolaryngology or psychiatry. So it may be overstating the case a little bit to say that all medical students get identical education, but it’s way more true than false.</p>
<p>And what do medical students take? Courses in basic sciences, such as anatomy, histology, pathology, pharmacology, biochemistry, etc.; clinical rotations in major fields of medicine, such as internal medicine, general surgery, ob/gyn, neurology, pediatrics, etc.; electives that are usually clinical.</p>
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<p>It’s not so much you have to know a lot of physics or chemistry. Most physicians use very little physics or chemistry in their daily clinical practice. It’s the skill set that’s important. Students who are very strong in physics or chemistry or any of the “hard” sciences are generally competitive and have excellent critical thinking and problem solving skills. Those attributes are indeed important, regardless of what specialty you end up going into.</p>
<p>There are other roles in the mental health field for people who aren’t interested in becoming physicians. However, I was advised when I was considering mental health careers that I would have the most flexibility as a psychiatrist, so I went to medical school and completed a psychiatry residency afterwards. </p>
<p>(I am not sure that advice turned out to be true because of the way the practice of medicine and psychiatry have changed, but it was probably true at the time.)</p>
<p>I used physics very little even in medical school. Chemistry remains important, because some of pharmacology requires you to think about principles you learned in chemistry. Pharmacology is very important to the practicing psychiatrist.</p>
<p>Just to present the flipside of the physics portion. I’m finishing up my pediatrics residency this year, then starting a pediatric critical care medicine fellowship - basically I love being in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and want to take care of the sickest, most critically ill and injured children. A great deal of the physiology I concern myself with is actually physics - fluid dynamics and electrical circuits in particular. It’s not so much that I sit there doing math problems to take care of my patients, but understanding the relationships is key.</p>
<p>.Oh Okay. Thanks everyone. I knew some information about it but not a lot. I was just curious about the physics and chemistry stuff because when i took chemistry , i didn’t do to well but now in my Psychology , I understand it because it actually relates to something I’m interested in &it’s not just BASIC Chemistry. I know I’m better at Chemistry when it comes to Mental Health.</p>
<p>My two teenaged sons have both recently been diagnosed with mental illness (it’s been a rough year). I was surprised that the TYPICAL way of treating the illness now is to be seen by a counselor weekly, and by a psychiatrist less frequently. The physician’s main role is to oversee medication. He/she doesn’t really provide any therapy.</p>
<p>Having said that, there are a few psychiatrists who will provide therapy as well as medication management. They do not accept insurance, though, so it’s an expensive route to take.</p>
<p>.Oh Okay. Well Thank you for that MaineLonghorn.</p>
<p>&I hope your sons are doing okay ! My dad is also diagnosed with a mental illness.</p>