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A Career as a Psychiatrist

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Becoming a Psychiatrist has interested me based on the premise of helping others. A psychiatrist is a physician who diagnoses and treats mental disorders in his/her patients. A common misconception is that a psychiatrist and a psychologist are the same thing. Unlike psychologists, psychiatrists attend medical school and obtain a M.D. This gives them the power to prescribe certain medications and even specialize into certain fields such as geriatric psychology, which is the specialization into the mind and behavior of aging adults, child and adolescent psychology, which is the specialization into the mind and behavior of children, and addiction psychology, which is the specialization into the mind of process or substance addicts. In order to become a psychiatrist, one must earn a four year bachelor’s degree in either psychology or something involving life sciences. During Junior Year of an undergraduate school, one has to take the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) in order to apply to medical school. After completing a bachelor’s degree, one must enroll in medical school. The first two years will mainly consist of biology, anatomy, pathology and other science courses. The next two years consists of working with doctors in the psychiatry field. The last year one will apply for residency. The residency consists of being trained for four years in the fields family medicine and pediatrics, neurology, for two years, and spending the last two years in the field of psychiatry. So the educational time to become a certified psychiatrist is approximately 12 years, but before one can be certified, a state certification exam must be passed.

A disease that psychiatrists commonly treat is depression. Depression is treatable m...

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...epression?. (n.d.). Harvard Health Publications. Retrieved January 14, 2014, from http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/what-causes-depression.htm

Depression (major depressive disorder). (n.d.). Mayo Clinic. Retrieved January 16, 2014, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/basics/causes/CON-20032977

What Is Depression? | Understanding Sadness and Clinical Depression. (n.d.). WebMD. Retrieved January 16, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/what-is-depression

What's the Difference Between a Psychologist and a Psychiatrist?. (n.d.). About.com Psychology. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from http://psychology.about.com/od/psychotherapy/f/psychvspsych.htm

How to Become a Psychiatrist. (n.d.). About.com Psychology. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from http://psychology.about.com/od/getajobinpsychology/tp/how-to-become-a-psychiatrist.htm
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