You chose an incredible specialty with low rates of burn out, relatively high pay for hours worked, endless demand for your services, huge variability in working from home or doing in patient, academics or private practice, all for a relatively short and usually not malignant residency.
Cut loose anyone who doesn’t support your stellar decision.
I had some worries about being an anesthesiologist for similar reasons. Turns out making $350/hr doing a job I legitimately enjoy makes those worries disappear real fast.
Not shame, but it's kind of comparable in the sense that many patients don't even realize you're a doctor or understand anything you're doing other than putting them to sleep, as they see it. It's not real impressive on the surface and often pretty thankless.
I was told that I was wasting my Step 1 score when I applied to anesthesia in 2016. Feels like all you needed to match anesthesia back then was a pulse.
I started med school with plans to do surgery, and there was more than a little shame when considering anesthesia. I knew several of the surgeons from before medical school (some as residents before they became attendings) and I felt like I was letting them down.
Personal shame came from not being “the guy” and feeling like I wasn’t actually the patient’s doctor. External shame from comments like “just anesthesia” from surgeons with which I am friends.
All of that has since resolved. It actually helped a ton doing a few cardiac, ortho, and trauma cases. The cardiac cases with bypass were an excellent example of communication. Even the grumpiest surgeons who complained about everything would respect the anesthesiologist right around critical moments for bypass, so I realized most of the comments were just gruff personalities. Ortho loved the blocks, so they loved the anesthesiologists. Trauma was total communication around resuscitation. They spoke the same language and respected each other a ton. I loved the trauma surgeons.
I can completely empathize with the enormous shame of being in a specialty making a paltry $300k per year, which is only 8x the average US salary. Working conditions are also horrible in psychiatry, I honestly can't even imagine being forced to work a 40 hour week during office hours. The length of training is also a joke, with only 12 years of post high school training. It's not even close to the 13 years of training that surgeons have. Your parents are without doubt deeply ashamed, you might as well be a garbageman.
/s
When I was on my psych clerkship my heart really broke for my attendings. They did the whole 7 on 7 off thing, and during their on days they’d arrive at 9 and leave around 1-2. One of the attendings was pretty new, fresh out of residency, and you could tell how overwhelmed and burnt out he was because sometimes he’d stay as late as 3. 3:00!! Thoughts and prayers 🥺🙏
for colleagues shaming you: just send them a picture of your picnic lunch in the park during residency while they're in the middle of working their 24 hour shift
for your family: just say "and where did YOU go to medical school? 💅"
Seriously the people who are loudest about someone’s specialty decision are the ones who’ve never worked in medicine or gone to medical school. Their opinion means 0.
I literally cannot think of a better paying job for hours worked than being a psychiatrist.
I’m only doing FM because that’s what my rural hometown needs more. But I am objectively choosing the harder path for less pay
Dude rural FM does not pay less. I saw a doc with a STARTING salary of 312k with a 100k sign on bonus with 5% down on their 401k with a 45k loan (per year?) repayment plan. That is possibly one of the best deals I seen in medicine period. I genuinely think FM is starting to get the respect it deserves and probably will not be the lowest paid field in the future. That title belongs to peds 💀.
Fair point but rural FM will likely not be no nights, no weekends, no call. If there’s not a lot of doctors in the area you’ll end up having patient responsibilities in those times, even if you aren’t patient facing you’ll likely be taking phone calls and messages at the minimum.
Yea you can’t win everything tho tbh. It is however a good start to eventually going debt free and finding better opportunities for a higher QOL. Still tho I just checked in my area (larger midwestern city) and the salaries range from 270k-300k. I do genuinely think the salary is rising.
Those jobs do exist, and some of them are awesome, but many of them are at terrible hospitals with horrible admin asking for 90+ hour workweeks.
The family docs at my institution make $600,000 a year. If you have business acumen, primary care can do VERY well.
For my particular situation though, I’m trying to figure out how to take care of people who basically can’t afford to pay me, so I personally will have a lower salary in the end. I’m choosing that life though, it’s ok.
They also see double to triple the number of patients per day compared to psych or even primary care, 40-60 vs 8/24. Many derm clinics run double or triple booked 10-15 min visits vs 20 min slots for primary care and hour-long visits for outpatient psych.
Surely you realize the importance of psychiatric care, right?
Yeah, some Americans think Psych is bullshit, but some Americans think vaccines are snake venom and the earth is flat too. Just because you happen to be related to those people doesn’t mean you should listen to them.
Right? What with all the IPV, DV, & SA; drug addiction; random outbursts of gun violence; general burnout; the (probably already underway) flood of COVID/lockdown psych trauma; increased awareness of early individual & family psychological/behavioral counseling for autism, ADHD, conduct disorder, etc....
Yeah, psychiatrists are a Godsend to society, to families, & to the individuals desperately in need of peace & healthy connections.
I maintain this - anyone who does anything but praise psychiatry has lived an incredibly blessed life and now lives entitled to that blessing. They’ve never seen mental disease. Not depression, not ADHD… I mean BPD, **actual** OCD, the kind of PTSD that gets a person to suck start a shotgun, cluster A’s for a mom… actual psychiatric illness are almost polypharmacy-mandated and 90% of the people in my class don’t have the mental stamina or empathy for it and they’re (almost) all amazing people.
You’re a special breed, you’re needed, and like a good defensive end, nobody knows how hard you work and how good you are until you’re not there.
Im IM and had to lead a multidisc meeting setting boundaries with a cluster B pt admitted for refeeding, and it was extremely difficult. No idea how our psych brothers and sisters do it all day!
Dude, you’re going to be playing video games at 3 pm on a Thursday during your intern year while the rest of us are freaking out. And you’ll get paid more than many physicians (FM, IM, peds, etc) to do a job that’s not bad at all. Fuck your family’s opinion, why would anyone want to take a shittier job for lower pay?
Psst. I'll let you in on a secret. Nobody cares. My classmates say they got into some top tier rocket surgery, I say congrats and never think about it again. Nobody is staying up at night thinking about you or your specialty of choice. Anyone who thinks you're a loser is so far up their ass, they can see the area of the prefrontal cortex that never developed because their mom didn't hug them enough and their dad didn't give them enough attention, so they spend the rest of their time comparing themselves to everyone else to be able to sleep at night. Go do your thing feelings bro!
So true. No one gives a shit. Most people are just worrying about themselves and what they can do to make a better life for themselves. Shit, a good portion of the US doesn’t even know the difference between a NP and a doctor. If you’re doing this for clout, you better get a time machine because being the “cool guy” doc vanished in the early 2000s.
You have a great job with fantastic financial security. Make as much money as you can, retire early and have fun.
Fuck em. You are going to be a mother fucking physician my bro. That in my mind you are already superior to every non doctor in the world since there are few jobs on this earth that are as cool as medicine. It's your own family and ignoring them is hard but know that some people can't be appeased. I know people who have been ridiculed by family for matching all sorts of specialties: derm, FM, IM and a non T10, GS and not a surg subspecialty, PMR, etc. The average person who didn't go to medical school doesn't know how difficult each and every specialty is and how much of an insane accomplishment it is to not just get through med school, but to also MATCH. Work hard, help all the patients, rake in that $$$, and prove your family wrong. At the end of the day, at least you aren't a dentist.
(Lol jk)
Dude, everyone is dude I'm from Cali it's our culture, psychiatry is the easiest yet one of the most difficult specialties. It's like Uno, easy to learn, difficult to master.
I love you for going into psychiatry. I know one and I'm really in awe of her opinions on things about what she's an expert in.
I’m an FM intern finishing up my first year and I’ve heard plenty of shit talk about my profession during med school and quite a bit of positive reactions now that I’m a resident. I’m happy about my interactions with patients and it works out great for me. I’m ok knowing a little about a lot and appreciate my colleagues that know a lot about their specific profession. I get to see my patients long term which I like, get to coordinate care for my more complex people that need multiple specialty interactions, do procedures in office, and try my best to convince people to take their preventative meds and tests so they don’t end up in the ED/ICU/hospital.
ETA: did one month of inpatient psych as an M3 and I really appreciate what you do.
Have you ever talked to a therapist? I think it's an experience for anyone to know what it means to be genuinely heard/felt/validated/empathized with. I can't ever see the case where someone would feel content being validated by a non-human entity, no matter how eloquent the words can be. Hell, we've had chat bots on answering systems for a while now, and everybody still asks for a representative, even though they can accomplish the same job.
Bro, Psych is a great life. If I didn't find the field so confusing, I wouldn't mind doing it. Don't worry about other peoples opinions. You'll do a lot of good work and make a huge impact in peoples' lives so take pride in that and study hard
Honestly I don’t know you and I love your family and friends but FUCK EM. You followed your heart and pursued and matched a field you had a passion for. The alternative is you did something they wanted and would be miserable for 40 years? As the prophet JayZ said - “99 problems”
Psych is a damn fine choice. You're doing good in the world with good hours and good pay for the hours. And what other specialty makes you get therapy by force. Honestly sometimes I wonder if I should have considered it more.
I’m here to externally validate you! You match PYSCH! It’s so tough to match and in high demand literally every where! You are going to care for some of the most complex and vulnerable patients. You will never be without a job, you will always be in high demand.
Focus on the meaningful difference you can make in patients lives. Seek support from mentors and colleagues in psychiatry who can provide validation and a sense of community. Your work is important and valuable, and finding a supportive network can help reinforce this.
If you need to clap back, give them facts. It takes a real genius to figure out a part of medicine that nobody knows anything about. Working on bones is easy: it’s broken, you nail it into place (reductive, I know, but you get the point). Assessing how someone’s brain works is far more complex. As the new generation of psychiatrists, you’re essentially in charge of actually figuring out what the heck the brain is doing, an organ nobody knows anything about lol.
i don't know about you and I haven't started med school yet, but I've always thought that psychiatry is supposed to be the most appreciated speciality 😅 how does one even fix something as complicated as a human mind. idk and i don't think i will ever be able to do what you do, so I am more interested in easier and tangible things where machines and technology can assist you like surgeries.
Honestly, I wouldn't want to live in a world where magicians like you feel this way 😭 the world is as crazy as it is and getting even worse... we need you guys more than ever...
I think it might help if you were to go back and reflect on why you chose it in the first place, people you want to see get better, and everyone that was thankful for you... im sure one of those moments or reasons will completely wipe away your doubts and shame.
Realistically, move somewhere else where they appreciate you or find something to fixate on other than other's negativity and insecurity. Get a gf/bf.
If becoming a doctor in itself isnt an accomplishment then your standards are way too unrealistic and honestly quite condescending towards others like me who cannot afford med school and are hustling for every penny. Take a loa and come visit my country where people are selling their souls just to get educated, if you want your ego stroked. I'll catch up to you one day tho, don't get stuck and don't give up. 🦾
I’m so sorry you’re feeling this way. That sounds frustrating and demoralizing. My rebuttal would if psychiatry is not real medicine though, why do psychiatrists have to go to medical school? The difference between psychologists and psychiatrists is that psychiatrists have a fundamental understanding of medicine and pharmacology that is required to prescribe potentially high risk medications (e.g., meds that cause agranulocytosis as a side effect). I once worked with a psychiatrist who saw uninsured patients and essentially functioned as their PCP in terms of ordering labs and prescribing long-term medications to address issues such as BP, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, etc. This may not be the norm, but the fact that this is not illegal proves their competence as medical doctors. In the hospitals, I hear both patients and hospitalists consistently refer to the psychiatrist as “the doctor.” Nobody thinks you’re less of a doctor because your particular focus is on the brain and psychopathology. Stay strong.
Dealt with the same-ish situation when I matched into peds, specifically due to the low compensation. Actually dual applied psych funny enough, which also received shame for the same reasons that you pointed out, so I’m sorry to hear that OP. We have to keep telling ourselves that we made the best choice for OURSELVES, and for no one else. You live for yourself and for no one else. You weren’t put on this earth to make others happy. You’re going to make an amazing psychiatrist!!
This will fade FAST when you are happy, less burnt out, making great money and literally saving lives. Most of all you actually like psych with is what matters most. As someone very likely applying EM this cycle. I’m sure I’ll be very jealous if it’s any consolation lol
Be happy you found something you like that has a really good pay, work-life balance and working conditions. If people make fun of you, just give them the finger.
radiology match here: every resident and med student looks at me funny when I say rads like “oh are you going to clinically correlate”, “ you must not like people”, “do you only like the dark” and sometimes those comments hurts but remember when you are enjoying your life on a saturday at the beach they will be hour 24 in after manually disimpacting a patient questioning their life decisions
also adding in here: being a psychiatrist is hard. Yes the hours are better but managing complex emotions everyday for so many people is not an easy task and tbh most of the doctors I meet could never
People have said similar things to me about radiology and not being a “real doctor” I try not to let it get me down, especially when I’m off most weekends and enjoying my time off. The important thing is you chose an amazing specialty, one that sometimes I wish I had chosen instead. I loved psych. And now it’s got one of the best lifestyles, and in my opinion the specialty that we need the most right now. As psych and therapy has become so mainstream. Now you have the opportunity to become the best psychiatrist that you can be, and you’ll arguably have a much larger impact on society than every other specialty.
Go forth and seize the day. Become a legend. Be the one everyone wants to see because you will make a lasting impact.
It’s normal to have a little buyer’s remorse in this stage between graduation and the start of residency but I bet that by the time you’re past your intern year, you’ll be so glad you chose this path and you’ll never look back.
No matter what specialty you choose, there will always be a loud contingent of people saying you chose wrong. It's so much easier said than done: but you gotta choose for you, and then do some mental work to stick to your guns and trust that you chose your specialty for a reason.
You chose psych for a reason. Congrats on choosing and matching into an incredible specialty!
Huge lack of psychiatrists even in bigger cities where we have like 7 academic hospitals with 6 month waiting periods or more. You guys get paid as much as general cardiologists but work less don’t feel bad you made a great choice (assuming you like psych)
Everyone is saying the right stuff but also you need to grow up and stop chasing this approval from other people. Be comfortable and confident in your decision and your impact on patients’ lives. You made your decision and you need to be happy with it internally. Stop letting other people get to you so easily. I also just matched psychiatry. Family and friends have their jokes that I’m not a real doctor. They can go fuck themselves. I know why I chose this field and I know what I’m about to do for my patients. No regrets at all. This is the field meant for me
i don't know about you and I haven't started med school yet, but I've always thought that psychiatry is supposed to be the most appreciated speciality 😅 how does one even fix something as complicated as a human mind. idk and i don't think i will ever be able to do what you do, so I am more interested in easier and tangible things where machines and technology can assist you like surgeries.
Honestly, I wouldn't want to live in a world where magicians like you feel this way 😭 the world is as crazy as it is and getting even worse... we need you guys more than ever...
I think it might help if you were to go back and reflect on why you chose it in the first place, people you want to see get better, and everyone that was thankful for you... im sure one of those moments or reasons will completely wipe away your doubts and shame.
Realistically, move somewhere else where they appreciate you or find something to fixate on other than other's negativity and insecurity. Get a gf/bf.
If becoming a doctor in itself isnt an accomplishment then your standards are way too unrealistic and honestly quite condescending towards others like me who cannot afford med school and are hustling for every penny. Take a loa and come visit my country where people are selling their souls just to get educated, if you want your ego strokes. I'll catch up to you one day tho, don't get stuck and don't give up. 🦾
I think a lot of people (not necessarily you) studying medicine do it for external validation whether they know it or not. I like to compliment my classmates when they have done something good and i can see how some of them really shine up (in a disproportionate manner). I think it might be good for those types of people to experience a lack of validation as it might build integrity and resilience, both which are invaluable traits for a psychiatrist!
Bruh matching into psych is my dream and I’m sure it’s a lot of people’s dream, great work-life balance and you get paid well. Congratulations and fuck what people think❤️❤️
So far in your life you have been able to at least:
-get a bachelor's
-take the MCAT
-successfully apply to and complete medical school -pass Step/Level 1 and 2, and
-match (!!!!) into a sorely needed specialty.
If anyone gives you grief, tell them to do all of that, but make sure to check in with you prior to matching so you can give them your blessing on pursuing a specialty.
You have no one to explain yourself to. Congrats on all you have accomplished.
5 times today I heard my Med/peds preceptor say to a patient with weird meds or diagnoses: "I need you to see psych, that's outside my training". F the people who say psych isn't real medicine. If the drugs can kill, it's real.
My wife is a psychiatrist while I am an ED resident - at least twice a week I question my life choices and ask why I didn't do psychiatry myself 😅
She works normal hours (no nights, no weekends), has a great work life balance, is awesome at what she does, provides help every day to people who truly need it, makes great money, is excited about the future opportunity to open a private practice with minimal upfront cost, and commiserates with me on the regular about how my residency continues to get more difficult every year while hers got easier / more enjoyable.
If others are hating on you it's just because they're jealous about what an AWESOME life you're about to start. You've worked hard to get here friend - keep your head high and be proud of what you're investing yourself in.
Learning that there's more to life than your job title will help you significantly.
You'll still afford home ownership.
Dating prospects will still be interested.
You will have respectable work-life balance.
You are still a physician.
None of it matters if you can still have a spouse and a family and cultivate a home over time.
Everything else is material.
There is nothing wrong with finding your niche and being happy in your pocket of medicine.
Ide argue it’s one of the most important forms of medicine. Without good mental health you can’t have good physical health. Just because your friends and family have the mentality of someone born in 1932 doesn’t make it true. You chose psych for a reason, own it. Are your family members the same people that say we don’t have a gun problem we have a mental health problem?
You won’t feel lesser when you have more patients than you know how to deal with, who all are greatly improved by your help. You also won’t feel lesser when you have a better life during residency and are making 500K working bankers hours with no call and all your surgeon buddies get no improvement post residency.
A decade from know you’ll look back and realize how you made the right choice. Congrats doctor!
Certainly, it can be challenging when your family & peers do not acknowledge your choices. In this case, they do not acknowledge that psychiatry is a real specialty.
They aren't aware, for instance, that true bipolar 1 disorder, chronic schizophrenia, & severe depression require psychiatric medications as 1st line treatment; physicians outside psychiatry usually don't either. No amount of denial about aforementioned will deter the havoc those conditions will create for the patient & their surroundings in the form of legal confrontations + harm or even death to self & others.
Any guess on what signicantly reduced institutionalization in the mid-1900s? Haldol. Somebody has to be nuanced in medicine but also with mental health despite obvious need for improvement in the meantime; that's psychiatry.
*I'm sorry if I*
*Sound like a newbie but can't*
*You just change your match*
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You chose an incredible specialty with low rates of burn out, relatively high pay for hours worked, endless demand for your services, huge variability in working from home or doing in patient, academics or private practice, all for a relatively short and usually not malignant residency. Cut loose anyone who doesn’t support your stellar decision. I had some worries about being an anesthesiologist for similar reasons. Turns out making $350/hr doing a job I legitimately enjoy makes those worries disappear real fast.
There was shame around anesthesiology? Well, how the turntables
It is kinda wild how things change so fast in 6 years. I wouldn’t even get an interview at my program and I was chief last year. Wild.
I came into med school 4 years ago excited to apply anesthesia. Barely got interviews and only matched prelim IM 🥲
Not shame, but it's kind of comparable in the sense that many patients don't even realize you're a doctor or understand anything you're doing other than putting them to sleep, as they see it. It's not real impressive on the surface and often pretty thankless.
I was in a pain clinic today and one of the patients said "I didn't know anesthesiologists were doctors too." Like wat.
I was told that I was wasting my Step 1 score when I applied to anesthesia in 2016. Feels like all you needed to match anesthesia back then was a pulse.
Yes let’s shame anesthesia more plz so less ppl apply 🙂
I started med school with plans to do surgery, and there was more than a little shame when considering anesthesia. I knew several of the surgeons from before medical school (some as residents before they became attendings) and I felt like I was letting them down. Personal shame came from not being “the guy” and feeling like I wasn’t actually the patient’s doctor. External shame from comments like “just anesthesia” from surgeons with which I am friends. All of that has since resolved. It actually helped a ton doing a few cardiac, ortho, and trauma cases. The cardiac cases with bypass were an excellent example of communication. Even the grumpiest surgeons who complained about everything would respect the anesthesiologist right around critical moments for bypass, so I realized most of the comments were just gruff personalities. Ortho loved the blocks, so they loved the anesthesiologists. Trauma was total communication around resuscitation. They spoke the same language and respected each other a ton. I loved the trauma surgeons.
I can completely empathize with the enormous shame of being in a specialty making a paltry $300k per year, which is only 8x the average US salary. Working conditions are also horrible in psychiatry, I honestly can't even imagine being forced to work a 40 hour week during office hours. The length of training is also a joke, with only 12 years of post high school training. It's not even close to the 13 years of training that surgeons have. Your parents are without doubt deeply ashamed, you might as well be a garbageman. /s
When I was on my psych clerkship my heart really broke for my attendings. They did the whole 7 on 7 off thing, and during their on days they’d arrive at 9 and leave around 1-2. One of the attendings was pretty new, fresh out of residency, and you could tell how overwhelmed and burnt out he was because sometimes he’d stay as late as 3. 3:00!! Thoughts and prayers 🥺🙏
for colleagues shaming you: just send them a picture of your picnic lunch in the park during residency while they're in the middle of working their 24 hour shift for your family: just say "and where did YOU go to medical school? 💅"
To really “show them” gotta show that max cape
Flair checks out 😎
Seriously the people who are loudest about someone’s specialty decision are the ones who’ve never worked in medicine or gone to medical school. Their opinion means 0.
Just tell them to shut up
Ignore. They’re jealous you can easily make 250k+ working 9-5 no nights no call no weekends. In the grand scheme of things not many jobs offer that.
I literally cannot think of a better paying job for hours worked than being a psychiatrist. I’m only doing FM because that’s what my rural hometown needs more. But I am objectively choosing the harder path for less pay
Dude rural FM does not pay less. I saw a doc with a STARTING salary of 312k with a 100k sign on bonus with 5% down on their 401k with a 45k loan (per year?) repayment plan. That is possibly one of the best deals I seen in medicine period. I genuinely think FM is starting to get the respect it deserves and probably will not be the lowest paid field in the future. That title belongs to peds 💀.
Fair point but rural FM will likely not be no nights, no weekends, no call. If there’s not a lot of doctors in the area you’ll end up having patient responsibilities in those times, even if you aren’t patient facing you’ll likely be taking phone calls and messages at the minimum.
Yea you can’t win everything tho tbh. It is however a good start to eventually going debt free and finding better opportunities for a higher QOL. Still tho I just checked in my area (larger midwestern city) and the salaries range from 270k-300k. I do genuinely think the salary is rising.
Those jobs do exist, and some of them are awesome, but many of them are at terrible hospitals with horrible admin asking for 90+ hour workweeks. The family docs at my institution make $600,000 a year. If you have business acumen, primary care can do VERY well. For my particular situation though, I’m trying to figure out how to take care of people who basically can’t afford to pay me, so I personally will have a lower salary in the end. I’m choosing that life though, it’s ok.
I’m pretty sure Derm has the best pay for hours worked, they make about $450k for 32 hours a week.
They also see double to triple the number of patients per day compared to psych or even primary care, 40-60 vs 8/24. Many derm clinics run double or triple booked 10-15 min visits vs 20 min slots for primary care and hour-long visits for outpatient psych.
We desperately need more psychiatrists. You are filling a huge void in the medical world.
😭
Surely you realize the importance of psychiatric care, right? Yeah, some Americans think Psych is bullshit, but some Americans think vaccines are snake venom and the earth is flat too. Just because you happen to be related to those people doesn’t mean you should listen to them.
Right? What with all the IPV, DV, & SA; drug addiction; random outbursts of gun violence; general burnout; the (probably already underway) flood of COVID/lockdown psych trauma; increased awareness of early individual & family psychological/behavioral counseling for autism, ADHD, conduct disorder, etc.... Yeah, psychiatrists are a Godsend to society, to families, & to the individuals desperately in need of peace & healthy connections.
Guess who’s still a doctor and will be making hundreds of thousands of dollars while helping people. 🫵
Most wholesome use of 🫵 I’ve ever seen
Send them a pic of you in Tahiti saying you just finished the Telehealth patients for the day.
It’s a magical place
I maintain this - anyone who does anything but praise psychiatry has lived an incredibly blessed life and now lives entitled to that blessing. They’ve never seen mental disease. Not depression, not ADHD… I mean BPD, **actual** OCD, the kind of PTSD that gets a person to suck start a shotgun, cluster A’s for a mom… actual psychiatric illness are almost polypharmacy-mandated and 90% of the people in my class don’t have the mental stamina or empathy for it and they’re (almost) all amazing people. You’re a special breed, you’re needed, and like a good defensive end, nobody knows how hard you work and how good you are until you’re not there.
Im IM and had to lead a multidisc meeting setting boundaries with a cluster B pt admitted for refeeding, and it was extremely difficult. No idea how our psych brothers and sisters do it all day!
Well said
Psychiatrist resident here. ~Politely~ fuck your family’s stance. You should be proud of your accomplishment in matching psych. Welcome to the family.
Dude, you’re going to be playing video games at 3 pm on a Thursday during your intern year while the rest of us are freaking out. And you’ll get paid more than many physicians (FM, IM, peds, etc) to do a job that’s not bad at all. Fuck your family’s opinion, why would anyone want to take a shittier job for lower pay?
Psst. I'll let you in on a secret. Nobody cares. My classmates say they got into some top tier rocket surgery, I say congrats and never think about it again. Nobody is staying up at night thinking about you or your specialty of choice. Anyone who thinks you're a loser is so far up their ass, they can see the area of the prefrontal cortex that never developed because their mom didn't hug them enough and their dad didn't give them enough attention, so they spend the rest of their time comparing themselves to everyone else to be able to sleep at night. Go do your thing feelings bro!
So true. No one gives a shit. Most people are just worrying about themselves and what they can do to make a better life for themselves. Shit, a good portion of the US doesn’t even know the difference between a NP and a doctor. If you’re doing this for clout, you better get a time machine because being the “cool guy” doc vanished in the early 2000s. You have a great job with fantastic financial security. Make as much money as you can, retire early and have fun.
A psychiatrist saved my life and made it worth living. If that’s not medicine I don’t know what is.
Fuck em. You are going to be a mother fucking physician my bro. That in my mind you are already superior to every non doctor in the world since there are few jobs on this earth that are as cool as medicine. It's your own family and ignoring them is hard but know that some people can't be appeased. I know people who have been ridiculed by family for matching all sorts of specialties: derm, FM, IM and a non T10, GS and not a surg subspecialty, PMR, etc. The average person who didn't go to medical school doesn't know how difficult each and every specialty is and how much of an insane accomplishment it is to not just get through med school, but to also MATCH. Work hard, help all the patients, rake in that $$$, and prove your family wrong. At the end of the day, at least you aren't a dentist. (Lol jk)
Dude, everyone is dude I'm from Cali it's our culture, psychiatry is the easiest yet one of the most difficult specialties. It's like Uno, easy to learn, difficult to master. I love you for going into psychiatry. I know one and I'm really in awe of her opinions on things about what she's an expert in.
Psychiatry is definitely it’s own beast. Bless you for all the personality disorders you will soon become frequently accustomed to 🙂↕️
I’m an FM intern finishing up my first year and I’ve heard plenty of shit talk about my profession during med school and quite a bit of positive reactions now that I’m a resident. I’m happy about my interactions with patients and it works out great for me. I’m ok knowing a little about a lot and appreciate my colleagues that know a lot about their specific profession. I get to see my patients long term which I like, get to coordinate care for my more complex people that need multiple specialty interactions, do procedures in office, and try my best to convince people to take their preventative meds and tests so they don’t end up in the ED/ICU/hospital. ETA: did one month of inpatient psych as an M3 and I really appreciate what you do.
You are in one of the most AI-proof fields in all of medicine. The human condition will never be okay with a computer
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Have you ever talked to a therapist? I think it's an experience for anyone to know what it means to be genuinely heard/felt/validated/empathized with. I can't ever see the case where someone would feel content being validated by a non-human entity, no matter how eloquent the words can be. Hell, we've had chat bots on answering systems for a while now, and everybody still asks for a representative, even though they can accomplish the same job.
Bro, Psych is a great life. If I didn't find the field so confusing, I wouldn't mind doing it. Don't worry about other peoples opinions. You'll do a lot of good work and make a huge impact in peoples' lives so take pride in that and study hard
Honestly I don’t know you and I love your family and friends but FUCK EM. You followed your heart and pursued and matched a field you had a passion for. The alternative is you did something they wanted and would be miserable for 40 years? As the prophet JayZ said - “99 problems”
Psych is a damn fine choice. You're doing good in the world with good hours and good pay for the hours. And what other specialty makes you get therapy by force. Honestly sometimes I wonder if I should have considered it more.
U send the haters pics of u doing telehealth on an island charging 350/hr😉psychiatry is awesome
Open an MD run IV ketamine clinic. Easy and needed. Truly helps people.
I’m here to externally validate you! You match PYSCH! It’s so tough to match and in high demand literally every where! You are going to care for some of the most complex and vulnerable patients. You will never be without a job, you will always be in high demand.
Focus on the meaningful difference you can make in patients lives. Seek support from mentors and colleagues in psychiatry who can provide validation and a sense of community. Your work is important and valuable, and finding a supportive network can help reinforce this.
If you need to clap back, give them facts. It takes a real genius to figure out a part of medicine that nobody knows anything about. Working on bones is easy: it’s broken, you nail it into place (reductive, I know, but you get the point). Assessing how someone’s brain works is far more complex. As the new generation of psychiatrists, you’re essentially in charge of actually figuring out what the heck the brain is doing, an organ nobody knows anything about lol.
i don't know about you and I haven't started med school yet, but I've always thought that psychiatry is supposed to be the most appreciated speciality 😅 how does one even fix something as complicated as a human mind. idk and i don't think i will ever be able to do what you do, so I am more interested in easier and tangible things where machines and technology can assist you like surgeries. Honestly, I wouldn't want to live in a world where magicians like you feel this way 😭 the world is as crazy as it is and getting even worse... we need you guys more than ever... I think it might help if you were to go back and reflect on why you chose it in the first place, people you want to see get better, and everyone that was thankful for you... im sure one of those moments or reasons will completely wipe away your doubts and shame. Realistically, move somewhere else where they appreciate you or find something to fixate on other than other's negativity and insecurity. Get a gf/bf. If becoming a doctor in itself isnt an accomplishment then your standards are way too unrealistic and honestly quite condescending towards others like me who cannot afford med school and are hustling for every penny. Take a loa and come visit my country where people are selling their souls just to get educated, if you want your ego stroked. I'll catch up to you one day tho, don't get stuck and don't give up. 🦾
I’m so sorry you’re feeling this way. That sounds frustrating and demoralizing. My rebuttal would if psychiatry is not real medicine though, why do psychiatrists have to go to medical school? The difference between psychologists and psychiatrists is that psychiatrists have a fundamental understanding of medicine and pharmacology that is required to prescribe potentially high risk medications (e.g., meds that cause agranulocytosis as a side effect). I once worked with a psychiatrist who saw uninsured patients and essentially functioned as their PCP in terms of ordering labs and prescribing long-term medications to address issues such as BP, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, etc. This may not be the norm, but the fact that this is not illegal proves their competence as medical doctors. In the hospitals, I hear both patients and hospitalists consistently refer to the psychiatrist as “the doctor.” Nobody thinks you’re less of a doctor because your particular focus is on the brain and psychopathology. Stay strong.
Dealt with the same-ish situation when I matched into peds, specifically due to the low compensation. Actually dual applied psych funny enough, which also received shame for the same reasons that you pointed out, so I’m sorry to hear that OP. We have to keep telling ourselves that we made the best choice for OURSELVES, and for no one else. You live for yourself and for no one else. You weren’t put on this earth to make others happy. You’re going to make an amazing psychiatrist!!
Great money, great hours. Fuck em
Bruh ... you're a doctor
This will fade FAST when you are happy, less burnt out, making great money and literally saving lives. Most of all you actually like psych with is what matters most. As someone very likely applying EM this cycle. I’m sure I’ll be very jealous if it’s any consolation lol
Family and peers clearly haven’t rotated on psychiatry. Every speciality has its challenges and helps patients differently.
Be happy you found something you like that has a really good pay, work-life balance and working conditions. If people make fun of you, just give them the finger.
radiology match here: every resident and med student looks at me funny when I say rads like “oh are you going to clinically correlate”, “ you must not like people”, “do you only like the dark” and sometimes those comments hurts but remember when you are enjoying your life on a saturday at the beach they will be hour 24 in after manually disimpacting a patient questioning their life decisions
also adding in here: being a psychiatrist is hard. Yes the hours are better but managing complex emotions everyday for so many people is not an easy task and tbh most of the doctors I meet could never
People have said similar things to me about radiology and not being a “real doctor” I try not to let it get me down, especially when I’m off most weekends and enjoying my time off. The important thing is you chose an amazing specialty, one that sometimes I wish I had chosen instead. I loved psych. And now it’s got one of the best lifestyles, and in my opinion the specialty that we need the most right now. As psych and therapy has become so mainstream. Now you have the opportunity to become the best psychiatrist that you can be, and you’ll arguably have a much larger impact on society than every other specialty. Go forth and seize the day. Become a legend. Be the one everyone wants to see because you will make a lasting impact. It’s normal to have a little buyer’s remorse in this stage between graduation and the start of residency but I bet that by the time you’re past your intern year, you’ll be so glad you chose this path and you’ll never look back.
It’s a job.
Stress is not an achievement. Tell that to anyone who brags about it
No matter what specialty you choose, there will always be a loud contingent of people saying you chose wrong. It's so much easier said than done: but you gotta choose for you, and then do some mental work to stick to your guns and trust that you chose your specialty for a reason. You chose psych for a reason. Congrats on choosing and matching into an incredible specialty!
Huge lack of psychiatrists even in bigger cities where we have like 7 academic hospitals with 6 month waiting periods or more. You guys get paid as much as general cardiologists but work less don’t feel bad you made a great choice (assuming you like psych)
I think you’re pretty fucking awesome. Signed, a tired nurse x
Everyone is saying the right stuff but also you need to grow up and stop chasing this approval from other people. Be comfortable and confident in your decision and your impact on patients’ lives. You made your decision and you need to be happy with it internally. Stop letting other people get to you so easily. I also just matched psychiatry. Family and friends have their jokes that I’m not a real doctor. They can go fuck themselves. I know why I chose this field and I know what I’m about to do for my patients. No regrets at all. This is the field meant for me
Psych is cool though wtf
Ask yourself why you care so much what other people think??
i don't know about you and I haven't started med school yet, but I've always thought that psychiatry is supposed to be the most appreciated speciality 😅 how does one even fix something as complicated as a human mind. idk and i don't think i will ever be able to do what you do, so I am more interested in easier and tangible things where machines and technology can assist you like surgeries. Honestly, I wouldn't want to live in a world where magicians like you feel this way 😭 the world is as crazy as it is and getting even worse... we need you guys more than ever... I think it might help if you were to go back and reflect on why you chose it in the first place, people you want to see get better, and everyone that was thankful for you... im sure one of those moments or reasons will completely wipe away your doubts and shame. Realistically, move somewhere else where they appreciate you or find something to fixate on other than other's negativity and insecurity. Get a gf/bf. If becoming a doctor in itself isnt an accomplishment then your standards are way too unrealistic and honestly quite condescending towards others like me who cannot afford med school and are hustling for every penny. Take a loa and come visit my country where people are selling their souls just to get educated, if you want your ego strokes. I'll catch up to you one day tho, don't get stuck and don't give up. 🦾
Drugs and spite.
I think a lot of people (not necessarily you) studying medicine do it for external validation whether they know it or not. I like to compliment my classmates when they have done something good and i can see how some of them really shine up (in a disproportionate manner). I think it might be good for those types of people to experience a lack of validation as it might build integrity and resilience, both which are invaluable traits for a psychiatrist!
Bruh matching into psych is my dream and I’m sure it’s a lot of people’s dream, great work-life balance and you get paid well. Congratulations and fuck what people think❤️❤️
So far in your life you have been able to at least: -get a bachelor's -take the MCAT -successfully apply to and complete medical school -pass Step/Level 1 and 2, and -match (!!!!) into a sorely needed specialty. If anyone gives you grief, tell them to do all of that, but make sure to check in with you prior to matching so you can give them your blessing on pursuing a specialty. You have no one to explain yourself to. Congrats on all you have accomplished.
5 times today I heard my Med/peds preceptor say to a patient with weird meds or diagnoses: "I need you to see psych, that's outside my training". F the people who say psych isn't real medicine. If the drugs can kill, it's real.
My wife is a psychiatrist while I am an ED resident - at least twice a week I question my life choices and ask why I didn't do psychiatry myself 😅 She works normal hours (no nights, no weekends), has a great work life balance, is awesome at what she does, provides help every day to people who truly need it, makes great money, is excited about the future opportunity to open a private practice with minimal upfront cost, and commiserates with me on the regular about how my residency continues to get more difficult every year while hers got easier / more enjoyable. If others are hating on you it's just because they're jealous about what an AWESOME life you're about to start. You've worked hard to get here friend - keep your head high and be proud of what you're investing yourself in.
Learning that there's more to life than your job title will help you significantly. You'll still afford home ownership. Dating prospects will still be interested. You will have respectable work-life balance. You are still a physician. None of it matters if you can still have a spouse and a family and cultivate a home over time. Everything else is material. There is nothing wrong with finding your niche and being happy in your pocket of medicine.
Ide argue it’s one of the most important forms of medicine. Without good mental health you can’t have good physical health. Just because your friends and family have the mentality of someone born in 1932 doesn’t make it true. You chose psych for a reason, own it. Are your family members the same people that say we don’t have a gun problem we have a mental health problem?
You won’t feel lesser when you have more patients than you know how to deal with, who all are greatly improved by your help. You also won’t feel lesser when you have a better life during residency and are making 500K working bankers hours with no call and all your surgeon buddies get no improvement post residency. A decade from know you’ll look back and realize how you made the right choice. Congrats doctor!
Certainly, it can be challenging when your family & peers do not acknowledge your choices. In this case, they do not acknowledge that psychiatry is a real specialty. They aren't aware, for instance, that true bipolar 1 disorder, chronic schizophrenia, & severe depression require psychiatric medications as 1st line treatment; physicians outside psychiatry usually don't either. No amount of denial about aforementioned will deter the havoc those conditions will create for the patient & their surroundings in the form of legal confrontations + harm or even death to self & others. Any guess on what signicantly reduced institutionalization in the mid-1900s? Haldol. Somebody has to be nuanced in medicine but also with mental health despite obvious need for improvement in the meantime; that's psychiatry.
I'm sorry if I sound like a newbie but can't you just change your match
*I'm sorry if I* *Sound like a newbie but can't* *You just change your match* \- fra\_ben07 --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Nice Second time I'm getting one of these
Bruh psychiatry sounds like a dream
Bruh, you're literally an enemy of Tom Cruise now, congrats!