Many people want to become physicians. There are a lot of reasons for that, the most popular ones being high salaries and job satisfaction rates. The state of Florida, especially, is always on the lookout for physicians – especially psychiatrists.
Becoming a physician, however, is not easy at all. There are a lot of advantages, that’s true, but there are also many disadvantages as well. Not only is it hard to finally acquire a diploma, but once you’ve become a physician, you’ll still have to deal with many challenges and hardships.
If you’re interested in psychiatry and would like to find out more about the topic, then make sure to read this detailed description of what psychiatry entails together with how the average week of a psychiatrist is like.
What Is Psychiatry?
Psychiatry is the field of medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional disorders like depression or schizophrenia. Although the field wasn’t paid much attention to in the past, it has rapidly become one of the most important ones across the globe.
Therefore, a physician that has specialized in psychiatry is called a psychiatrist. They are not only trained to diagnose and resolve a patient’s illnesses but also to address any emotional or mental troubles they might have acquired over the course of their issues.
Unfortunately for the physician, this also makes their job one of the most mentally taxing. Hearing from and constantly interacting with people who are genuinely suffering can leave you feeling particularly jaded, dejected, or even depressed.
On the other hand, it’s quite ironically convenient that psychiatrists are trained to beat depression.
Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist
A lot of people confuse psychiatrists with psychologists, and that’s no surprise. After all, their names are very similar, and they both deal in what is essentially occasional (or consistent) emotional support.
The requirements of the job, however, are very different. A psychologist is supposed to offer moral support to people in need. Although a psychiatrist is expected to do the same, they don’t show up to work to do specifically that, instead also focusing on resolving whatever conditions cause their patient’s troubles.
Another big difference is that a psychiatrist is able to prescribe medication. A psychologist can help through the power of suggestive wording but cannot quite resolve any medical conditions, while a psychiatrist is considered an expert that can also take more direct approaches.
Is It Hard to Become a Psychiatrist?
Quite hard, in fact. Becoming a psychiatrist is notoriously difficult. To give you some context, you’ll need approximately 11 years of education, that being respectively split between college, medical school, and residency.
College is the least of your worries and is considered a base requirement for medical school. Admission into med school, however, is extremely costly depending on where you’re from, totaling to about a fifth of a million on average.
That’s not all, as you’ll have to compete with other people who want to become medical students. Once that’s done and you’ve survived the grueling gauntlet of mastering your field, you will have to undertake a residency with another psychiatrist before starting on your own.
After that, you’ll have to begin with establishing a name for yourself. Thankfully, there is a huge number of vacant Miami psychiatry jobs. If anything, Miami has always had a shortage of experienced physicians.
Hard Work, But Rewarding
A psychiatrist might work long hours, have to deal with harrowing accounts of their patients’ experiences, and occasionally have to answer night calls – but they are also bound to be significantly more satisfied than many other professions on account of what they’re doing.
Saving people and allaying their worries is food for the soul. If you’re planning on becoming a psychiatrist and don’t know if it’s a good idea or would like to see if Miami is a good place for you to practice in, then let us tell you that it is!