Salary: Median—$180,000 per year
Employment Outlook: Very good
Definition and Nature of the Work
Psychiatrists are physicians who specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders. They treat patients with mild cases of anxiety as well as those with severe disorders that can cause dangerous and bizarre behavior. Psychiatrists may also diagnose mental retardation and treat alcoholism. They often work with other mental health workers, such as psychologists, psychiatric nurses, and psychiatric social workers.
Psychiatrists talk with patients to learn about their mental health problems. They may also use information provided by patients' families or by other mental health workers. They are trained to recognize the connection between mental and physical disorders, so they may order laboratory or other diagnostic tests.
For treatment, psychiatrists can prescribe drugs and use shock therapy and psychotherapy. In psychotherapy, psychiatrists use their special training to talk with one or more patients to help them understand and cope with their problems.
Psychiatrists may work with patients in private offices or in hospitals or clinics. They may also do research, studying the causes and treatment of mental illness. Some psychiatrists teach in medical schools or in special psychiatric institutes. Others write or edit psychiatric books or journals.
Psychiatrists are often confused with psychologists and psychoanalysts. Psychiatrists are physicians who have advanced training in psychiatry. As physicians, they can prescribe medication. Psychologists have either master's degrees or doctorates in psychology. They are not physicians and cannot prescribe drugs or perform surgery. Psychologists are basically scientists who study the reactions of people to their environment. Psychoanalysts are specially trained to practice long-term therapy that investigates the subconscious or hidden causes of emotional disturbances. Most psychoanalysts are psychiatrists, while those known as lay analysts are not.
Education and Training Requirements
Psychiatrists need extensive training after high school. They get bachelor's degrees, followed by four years of medical school. After one-year internships, they must also have three years of psychiatric training as residents in hospitals. Usually after one or two years of residency, psychiatrists must take examinations to be licensed, which is required in all states. They need additional experience before they are eligible to take examinations for certification as psychiatrists.
Getting the Job
Psychiatrists work in institutions or in private practice. Some combine the two types of work. Building a successful private practice can take a while, so many beginning psychiatrists start their careers in established psychiatric offices. Professional associations can provide information about setting up a practice or getting salaried positions.
Advancement Possibilities and Employment Outlook
Psychiatrists usually advance by building their practices. Some specialize in fields such as child, educational, or legal psychiatry. Others become teachers, researchers, or administrators in colleges, hospitals, or other institutions.
Employment of physicians in general is expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through 2014. Expansion of the health-care industry, a growing population, and increasing life spans, as well as higher incomes and educational levels, are spurring the demand. Shortages of psychiatrists exist, especially in rural areas and in public facilities.
Working Conditions
Psychiatrists in private practice work in quiet, peaceful settings so their patients can feel at ease. However, the work can be stressful because of the suffering they see every day. In addition, psychiatrists in private practice must be available to their patients whenever they need help, so their working hours can be irregular. Psychiatrists who work in hospitals and clinics often have more regular hours than private practitioners do because the staff divides the hours they must be on call. To do their work well, psychiatrists must be well balanced, disciplined, and enjoy working with all kinds of people.
Earnings and Benefits
Psychiatrists' earnings are similar to those of other physicians. In 2004 psychiatrists who had been in practice more than one year earned a median income of $180,000 per year. Psychiatrists in private practice provided their own benefits. Salaried psychiatrists received paid holidays and vacations, health insurance, and retirement plans.
User Comments Add a comment…
6 days ago
Thanks for your help! This website was a very nice resource site for a career project i had to do. I can see it helped many other people in the same boat as me :)
12 days ago
this helped alot with my 3 minute presentation on psychiatrist and psychology for my balancing careers and family class =) ^_^ =)
19 days ago
This site has helped me figure out what I want to do in life.
20 days ago
this website helped me alot 4 mii career project thnx alot :p xoxoxxoxoxoxoxo luv ur website
about 1 month ago
this helped alot for my career project ALOT!! thx!
about 1 month ago
I have a career project due and this helped ALOT! thx alot!
about 1 month ago
i have a report due for health service class and this site just basically made the whole assignment easier it had all the information i needed!!!
about 1 month ago
thx it was a big help 4 my summer homework
about 1 month ago
thanks i am doing a project for school and this helped out a lot
3 months ago
Thanks so much to the site. i now have a good understanding of what my career will include. thi sreally helped!
4 months ago
Hey, I just wanted to say thanks this sight really helped me get what I need for a career brochure that is due. One thing I was wondering is if you could put up a some kind of graph that shows the salary a psychatrist makes. That would be EXTREMELY helpful! =]]
4 months ago
im doing a 8th grade report on future careers..this site eally helped me..
4 months ago
thanx will help with my project a lot
4 months ago
This is really helpful. I'm doing Health careers for my Health class and this site provided all the iformation I needed. Thanks!
4 months ago
wow! this is very helpful! i was having the same problem writing a report, and over half the information I need is right here! thankyou so much!
4 months ago
thanks so much for all the info! I'm doing a presentation on psychiatry, and this site told me exactly what I needed to know.
5 months ago
Thanx to this site, I finished my project just in time to turn it and get an A
5 months ago
Wonderful! I also need this information for a career project, and not to mention my future!! :]
5 months ago
thanks it really helped me w/ my school paper!!!
5 months ago
This website has helped me out alot! i didn't really know what i wanted to major in after high school, but i wanted to get a head start on things since i'm in the 10th grade. now i know what i want to do after high school. This website was a big help because it went into more detail, a excellent resource! THANKS!!
6 months ago
This site really is helpful because I'm doing a project on a career that i want to learn about and this really helped me out big time THANKS!!!!!!!!
6 months ago
Does anyone know how I can get an Interview with a psychiatrist?
6 months ago
This website is a life saver. I didn't even start on my esaay and thnks to this website I'm almost finished.I toaught I was going to fail for real this time. Wheew Th@$ks -- ^
6 months ago
I WANT TO THANK YOU SO MUCH I AM DOING A CAREER RESEARCH PAPER ON PSCHIATRIST. EVERYWHERE I HAVE LOOKED THERE IS NO PLACE WITH THE BENEFITS OF A PSYCHIATRIST.THANK YOU!!!!
6 months ago
this website was most helpfull for my school paper (which is on psychiatry) Thanks! But i would like to know all the different fields of psychiatry.
7 months ago
This Information is really helpful. I am doing a Career project and I've been trying all these other web sites and none of them were as good as this one! Thanks so much!
7 months ago
This website was really helpful, thank you for the information you provided. One thing I would suggest would be to add a section explaining if there are any special skills or abilities psychiatrists need or have.
7 months ago
Thank you so much for this information, you really helped me understand what it takes to become a psychiatrist.
8 months ago
This is a very convenient straight forward educational article. It has helped me a great deal while writing my term 2 essay in Career.
8 months ago
thank you it helped with my career project soo much !
8 months ago
thanks alot you really helped on my science paper
8 months ago
This is an excellent resource for educating the general public on this great career. As for the person who commented that this line of work is one which "ruins lives", I'd like to say that I am a Harvard student studying this line of work and believe that those who think psychiatric medicine is toxic witchcraft have not worked in a clinic or had much experience whatever with the mentally ill who benefit greatly from psychiatrists.
9 months ago
this is a helpful resources and it has helped me tremendously on my research paper! it has a lot of detailed information, thanks!
9 months ago
thanks for the information. you see im 13 and in the 8th grade and we're doin a research paper on health careers and i chose a psychiatrist and this website has gave me a lot of info. please and thank you!!!!
10 months ago
I'm a student at Fairdale High School in Louisville Kentucky. This website helped me find the information that I needed for my Feature Artical=D I'm gald that my teacher gave me this website to use for my Artical!! Thanx alot=D
10 months ago
Psychiatry causes at least 90% of the mental illness out there by "treating" conditons with psychiatric drugs. These medications cause brain damage and thus cause people to become mentally ill. If you want to actually help people become a psychologist. Talk therapy does not cause brain damage, but psychiatric medications unfortunately do.
10 months ago
This site helped me a lot on my English Research Paper Final.
10 months ago
thanx a lot 4 helping me on my child development paper!!!!!!
10 months ago
The majority of my psychology paper was sourced to your web page. The information was accurate and useful. Thank you very much.
10 months ago
you didnt incluse anything about ones that wont to work in hospital
11 months ago
i <3 you guys for all the help that i have recieved from you thanks a bunches
11 months ago
wow...this really helped me out alot and this is exactly what i was looking for and i couldnt find this anywhere else..thank you so much.. i am definitly going into this field after reading this..i am excited thanks again i would love to recieve more information about this career via email thanks again much appreciated
11 months ago
This website helped me find out excatly what i needed to know. Now I'm entering my first year of college majoring in Psychology to b a psychiatrist.
11 months ago
I've been looking everywhere for a site that could tell me all of this. It rocks, it has answered so many of my questions. Thanks!!
12 months ago
I would like to say that I loved this website. It helped me out alot. I"m doing a PBL project on who I am now an who I want to become. I've wanted to be a psychiatrist ever since I was about 10 years old. I"m 14 now and I haven't lost any passion for it.Keep up the good work..this is the only site that gave me what I was looking for.
about 1 year ago
nice site of information...you gave me the info, especially on the education requirements, which most other sites will not get into. kudos to you guys on that...if you'd like, put more info on colleges that cater to psychiatric careers...and to perfect your site even more give a little more info on salaries in rural areas...thanks...good site!
about 1 year ago
i am a 7th grader planning to be a Psychiartrist. This site helped me out alot THANKS
about 1 year ago
I'm a junior in high school and i plan on becoming a psychiatrist. i love helping other people and ive taken two psychology classes. this site was very helpful!!
about 1 year ago
I Like This Website =) It Helped Me A Lot With My Research on psychiatrists Because thats what I wanna be when I get older So In my Intro To Majors class I Am Writing a paper about psychiatrists because my teacher is making me && maybe thats why I dont like her so much .. I Dont know lol. But Anyways This Web Site Helped Me So Thanx Oh! && did I Mention That Im Gonna Be A Psychiatrist When I Get Older lol. .Cause I Need A Psychiatrits && They Say Most ppl In The Psychiatric fild Needs Psychiatrits themselves && I Do Need One Ill Prolly Get One Soon Thats What Mommy Says Cause Then I Wont Be Depressed No More && See Wouldnt I Be A Good Psychiatrist Thanx! <3 You