Medical Education US

Hello,
I am an older student looking at a career as doing therapy in a private practice. I want to know if being a Psychiatrist is more advantageous careerwise to do "talking therapy" than let's say, being a Psychologist. I understand alot of Psychiatrists these days are relegated to administrative positions. I don't want to necessarily do that, I want to talk with people. Could someone help me out with this inquiry? I appreciate any and all replies.
Good day...

Corrected spelling in title

[ Edited by Admin on 2003/8/25 15:40 ]

I am assuming you are in the united states, as I really don't know how much of what I know applies outside the US. If you are interested in providing therapy, I would recommend you do NOT become a psychiatrist. There are different specialties within psychology, but as a psychologist, you can get excellent training in providing therapy.

If you are interested in also prescribing medications, then you really should become a psychiatrist. In New Mexico, there are some psychologists who are able to prescribe medications under very strict guidelines, but that is definitely the exception and I don't expect other states to follow suit anytime soon. Outside of New Mexico, psychologists can not prescribe meds.

In order to become a psychiatrist, though, you need to complete medical school (4 years after college) and you need to complete a residency in psychiatry (4 years after med school). During med school and residency, the work load is extremely demanding, both psychologically and physically. You work many hours (although there are improving guidelines, such as limiting a residents work hours to 80 hrs / week), and you see a lot of very sick people. Med school is also extremely expensive and a resident's salaray isn't really enough to pay off the loans. As a psychiatrist, you can really choose whether you want to provide therapy or medications or both for your patients. In the real world, though, it is clear that time spent doing medication visits pays better than time spent providing therapy. For this reason, most psychiatrists will do brief medication visits and any intensive therapy is provided by a psychologist, or sometimes a nurse or social worker who is trained in therapy. There are psychiatrists who spend the majority of time providing therapy, but I think it is becoming more and more rare.

The majority of psychiatrists I know don't really have any special administrative positions, aside from heading their practice. I know almost as many psychologists with administrative positions as I do psychiatrists..

As you said you want to talk to patients, both psychologists and psychiatrists do that.

Let me know if you have other questions.