Although the number of medical school graduates who select psychiatry in the U. Moreover, the prospect for psychiatrists in other organizations is less favorable. Public state hospitals are gradually being dismantled.
The role of psychiatrists in outpatient services and in solo practice is particularly threatened. Psychiatry is subject to unmerciful competition from nonmedical branches of mental health such as psychology and social work.
It is the basis for successful contributions to family, community, and society. Throughout the lifespan, mental health is the wellspring of thinking and communication skills, learning, resilience, and self-esteem. There is untold richness in diversity in being a psychiatrist and each year more and more medical students are choosing a career as a psychiatrist.
Medical students follow a standard curriculum. In addition to anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology, students take courses in psychiatry, behavioral science and neuroscience in the first two years of medical school. In the last two years, students are assigned to medical specialty clerkships where they study and work with physicians in at least six different medical specialties, including psychiatry.
Medical students rotating through their psychiatry clerkship take care of patients with mental health in the hospital and in outpatient settings. They also have an opportunity to work with medical and surgical patients who may have psychiatric problems or who have difficulty coping with their illness.
Because modern psychiatry places special emphasis on the relationship between mind and body, students pay special attention to issues of stress and physical illness, prevention, and behavior change, in addition to learning to care for severely mentally ill patients. Doctors spend the first year of residency training in a hospital taking care of patients with a wide range of medical illnesses. He or she then spends at least three additional years in psychiatry residency learning the diagnosis and treatment of mental health, gaining valuable skills in various forms of psychotherapy, and in the use of psychiatric medications and other treatments.
Upon completing residency, a psychiatrist can apply for board certification from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Many psychiatrists choose to go on to additional years of training in a subspecialty. Many psychiatrists continue training beyond the initial four years. Some choose additional training in psychoanalysis at psychoanalytic institutes.
Psychiatrists practice in diverse settings including private practice, general and psychiatric hospitals, university medical centers, community agencies, courts and prisons, nursing homes, industry, government, military settings, schools and universities, rehabilitation programs, emergency rooms, hospices, and many other places. Depending on the extent of the problem, treatment may take just a few sessions over a week or two or may take many sessions over a period of years.
Psychotherapy can be done individually, as a couple, with a family, or in a group. There are many forms of psychotherapy. There are psychotherapies that help patients change behaviors or thought patterns, psychotherapies that help patients explore the effect of past relationships and experiences on present behaviors, and psychotherapies that are tailored to help solve other problems in specific ways.
Cognitive behavior therapy is a goal-oriented therapy focusing on problem solving. Psychoanalysis is an intensive form of individual psychotherapy which requires frequent sessions over several years.
Most medications are used by psychiatrists in much the same way that medications are used to treat high blood pressure or diabetes. After completing thorough evaluations, psychiatrists can prescribe medications to help treat mental disorders.
While the precise mechanism of action of psychiatric medications is not fully understood, they may beneficially modulate chemical signaling and communication within the brain, which may reduce some symptoms of psychiatric disorders.
Patients on long-term medication treatment will need to meet with their psychiatrist periodically to monitor the effectiveness of the medication and any potential side effects. Other treatments are also sometimes used. Electroconvulsive therapy ECT , a medical treatment that involves applying electrical currents to the brain, is used most often to treat severe depression that has not responded to other treatments.
Deep brain stimulation DBS , vagus nerve stimulation VNS , and transcranial magnetic stimulation TMS are a few of the newer therapies being used to treat some mental disorders. Light therapy is used to treat seasonal depression. To become a psychiatrist, a person must complete medical school and take a written examination for a state license to practice medicine, and then complete four years of psychiatry residency.
The first year of residency training is typically in a hospital working with patients with a wide range of medical illnesses. The psychiatrist-in-training then spends at least three additional years learning the diagnosis and treatment of mental health, including various forms of psychotherapy and the use of psychiatric medications and other treatments.
Training takes place in in-patient, out-patient, and emergency room settings. After completing residency training, most psychiatrists take a voluntary written and oral examination given by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology to become a "board certified" psychiatrist.
They must be re-certified every 10 years.
0コメント