How to Become a Psychiatrist: What You Need to Know
When you are in a place where you are
considering a career and thinking about what you want to do, one career that
might pique your interest is that of a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist is a
licensed medical professional who is committed to aiding others with regards to
mental health and wellness.
Unlike a psychologist, which is an
intimately related field, a psychiatrist is capable of providing a client with
a prescription for medication; as a consequence, this career is one that takes
a great deal of time and effort to establish. If you are thinking about how
to become a psychiatrist, consider this psychiatrist career overview.
Psychiatry offers a wide range of job
opportunities. Nowadays
people are suffering from mental problems due to their work or family problems.
So this profession is growing very fast in the society because mental stability
is required by every person and if someone is suffering from problem
psychiatrist helps him out of that problem.
Psychiatrist treats the mentally retarded people as well as people who
are suffering from some mental problem. The psychiatrists have the wide range
of career opportunities he can choose, as he likes.
These career opportunities are as follows:
1)
Run one’s own private clinic.
2)
Work as occupational therapist
3)
Work as a consultant psychiatrist
4)
Work as a adolescent and child psychiatrist
5)
Work with court as a forensic psychiatrist
6)
Work as neurodevelopment disability psychiatrist
7)
Learning disability psychiatrist
8)
Psychosomatic medicine psychiatrist
9)
Emergency psychiatrist
10)
Consultation liaison
11)
Emergency psychiatry
12)
Addiction psychiatry
13)
Geriatrics
How long does it take to become a psychiatrist?
Step 1: Undergraduate Work
Before entering into medical school,
the student must first earn a bachelor’s degree. A bachelor’s degree is typically
earned through a university or a college and at the end of the day there are
several different degrees that might suit this endeavour.
In the first place, a psychology degree is one of the first
options. A psychology degree acquaints the student with the many different
branches of the field while also offering a view point into what life as a
practicing psychologist might be like. However, the student may also go into
related fields like pre-med, biology, or
human health. The focus of the degree is less important than good
performance and a dedication to their work.
If you are thinking about psychiatrist schooling, becoming an
undergraduate is one place to start. Similar medical careers start with the
same basis, so if you decide to switch somewhere during your academic career,
you won’t be starting from square one. A
psychiatrist career is a demanding one, and when you are thinking about how
to become a psychiatrist, an undergraduate degree is something that
you need to consider seriously.
Step 2: Taking the MCAT for
Admissions into Medical School
The MCAT stands for the Medical
College Admission Test, and if you want to learn how to become a psychiatrist,
this is one of the things to consider. This test is taken when the student is a
junior or a senior in their undergraduate career, and the test is one of the
major factors that colleges use to decide whether or not to accept the
applicant.
The test takes time between 4½ to 5
hours, and it is composed of four parts.
Physical Science, Biological Science, Verbal Reasoning and Written Response
are the four sections, and it is important to score equally well on all four.
Many students choose to attend classes that are directly related to preparing them for the MCAT.
Step 3: How to Become a
Psychiatrist: Medical School
The next step when you are
considering how to become a psychiatrist is medical school.
Like undergraduate studies, graduate school requires four years, and it are
essential to earning a psychiatrist
degree. If you are thinking about becoming a therapist who can prescribe
drugs, this is an essential part of your training. Nearly all of the helping
professions require medical school, and this is where you are going to really
get started with your psychiatrist career education.
Medical school is made up of two parts.
The first two years are spent learning from textbooks and lectures, and the
other two years are a practical experience, which takes the students to various
health centers to learn about their chosen careers.
This second part is by far the most
important, it involves working in a clinic under supervision. Some of the
courses that the person who is becoming a therapist might encounter include
physiology and pharmacology. This allows the student to conduct medical
examinations and also to diagnose patients. He or she will also learn a great
deal about health career profiles, further confirming whether this career is good
for them or not.
Step 4: Residencies and
Licensing
After their term in medical school,
psychiatrists then need to spend at least four years in a residency program.
During their time in this program, they will be doing paid clinical work in a
hospital.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, which licenses
psychiatrists in the United States, the psychiatrist must also perform 36
months of psychiatric training as well as working within rotations that include
work ranging from emergency care or family medicine. You will also find that
there are some programs of study which allow residents to have trained in
another clinical specialty prior to transferring to psychiatry.
When considering how to become a
psychiatrist, the final step is to become licensed by their state through
passing the United Stated Medical Licensing Examination. This exam varies from
state to state, and though each state does have its own exam, there are several
states that have reciprocity agreements, allowing one state’s certification to
stand in for another state. If the psychiatrist wishes to prescribe medication,
they also need to acquire a federal narcotics license which is then registered
with the Drug Enforcement Agency.
Whether you are in a place where you
are considering a psychotherapy degree or you simply want to learn how to
become a psychiatrist, there is a great deal of information out there available
to you. Choosing between the many psychiatry paths can be difficult, but the
more research you do, the better off you will be in the long run.
How to Become a
Psychiatrist: The Bottom Line
·
Think about where you want to be and where psychiatry can take you. This
is a helping career where you can make a great deal of difference, so think
about how to become a psychiatrist
and what that means to you.
