Medical Education US

I am a social worker in a state psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents. I have only been out of school for 16 months and been working at this job for a year, but I'm already feeling unsatisfied with my job and potentially with my career choice. When I was in training I thought that all I wanted to do was therapy and direct care and now I find myself dreading individual and family therapy sessions. This feeling is probably due in part to the acuity of the patients that I deal with and the low functioning of their families, but I wonder if I would be more satisfied in working with them in a different capacity. Social workers do a lot of the "grunt" work while the psychiatrists do more of the problem solving and less of the direct care with patients and their families. I'm starting to think that I would prefer to be making more of the decisions (and money) and that maybe I should go to medical school to become a psychiatrist. My background is in liberal arts and not in math or science, but I have good reasoning skills.

What kinds of things would you suggest that I consider when making this decision and are there any words of advice regarding how to go about the decision making process?

You do seem to be asking the right general questions. It's too bad that you're not enjoying your work more. It does sound like the setting you are in may just be the wrong setting, moreso than you being in the wrong profession.

I'm curious what made you think that you would like therapy in the first place, and why you are now disappointed. I'm guessing that if you were doing therapy with higher functioning patients / families, you'd enjoy the work more. I'm not sure how available jobs are where you could do that, though.

I work in a state hospital for adults, and I agree that social workers do most of the grunt work. Going back to school to become a psychiatrist is a HUGE undertaking, though. You are looking at 4 years of very challenging (and expensive) school followed by 4 years of residency, which is also extremely challenging. When I say challenging, it is not only mentally challenging, but also emotionally and physically challenging. I can not stress this enough, because it was something that I definitely underappreciated when I applied to medical schools. It wasn't until a few weeks into my first year when I figured out that when the residents are on call, they are UP all night in the hospital and expected to work the next day.

Your background in liberal arts is fine for whatever path you'd want to take. You don't need to have a major in math or science to be a doctor, but you will have to have completed all of the pre-med classes - 1 year general chemistry, 1 year organic chemistry, 1 year biology, and 1 year physics, plus most schools require 1 year of calculus.

If I were you, I'd talk to one of the psychiatrists you work with whom you have some rapport with - they can probably do a much better job of gauging if you would be happy with going back to med school.

I personally think you need to see if there are other jobs that you would find more satisfying as a social worker. The pay not be as great as that of a doctor, but when you factor in the additional 8 years of training you'll do, plus the 4 years of medical school tuition you'll be paying, I think it's fair to say that the end salary should not be a very significant factor.

If you have additional questions, or if I wasn't clear enough on some points, just let me know.