Are psychiatrists "weird?"

[PublicHealth]

Sorry for resurrecting a tired question, but has anyone noticed that psychiatrists tend to be a bit odd compared to other physicians? Is there a certain personality type that is attracted to psychiatry?

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[mdblue]

uhmm! what makes u to think that?

 

[prwunecom]

Every speciality has a stereotype, i.e. surgeons have the reputation of being dinguses but this is a broad generalization, and there are plenty of surgeons out there who are nice people. As far as psychiatrists being "odd", whose definition of odd are we using? Psych is a field that most people either really love or hate with a passion. There isn't a lot of middle ground. So perhaps the perception that psychiatrists are a little odd has been perpetuated by those who really do not like the field. It is hard to understand why someone would love it if you have no desire to do it yourself. I think there are "odd" people in every field......whether there are an inordinately larger number in psych is open to debate, I think.

 

[freespirit_md]

LOL...

I've never been one for social conformity.. and guess what -- I'm going into Pscyh. So perhaps your onto something.

And most of my favorite Pscyh Attendings were a bit Schizotypal heheh

 

[willow212]

I agree, there are "odd" people everywhere.

For psychiatrists, I could hazard a few guesses as to why some are considered strange.

I think part of it has to do with the nature of the job. When you're "judging" patients for the purposes of diagnosis and treatment, you're bound to come across as odd yourself. And like any other field, psychiatrists use humor to diffuse their own anxiety (and I don't know about you, but my jokes definitely have a limited audience). And some people must gravitate to the field because it seems friendly, to even the most unique of personalities.

Personally, I really like the "new guard" residents I've met in psych, and I'll take "odd" over malignant any day.

 

[prwunecom]

Willow

 

[willow212]

And you gotta love that supportive psych atmosphere...

 

[Paws]

Do people go into psych to heal or learn about their own personal feelings? I have often wondered this, and my friends who are social workers have said there is some truth to this.

I have seen some very troubling behavior of psych docs towards their patients, so I am more a fan of the social work school of thought.

Still, it's an interesting idea. I don't know the answer...

 

[mdblue]

Professionally, doctors are more prone to suffer from psychiatric d/o, most common specialities being psych and anesth-so it's common to see people who are mental d/o in psychiatry. There might be some people whom I saw in psych who are suffereing from mental d/o, but they are the exceptions not the rule, and for that matter I've seen physicians in other specialties on antidep/mood stab/even antipsychotics. To say u r in psych to treat u'r own problem is reductionist and reflects the stigma against psych. It's somewaht akin to people having DM going to endo. It's true to be a good shrink, u've to be psychologically minded and sensitive to other people's need, as the above posts suggest-I guess that is not a codifiable DSM-IV diagnosis. BTW don't believe the SW-as a general rule they try to put everyone in Axis I or II

 

[Thewonderer]

Originally posted by Paws
Do people go into psych to heal or learn about their own personal feelings? I have often wondered this, and my friends who are social workers have said there is some truth to this.

I have seen some very troubling behavior of psych docs towards their patients, so I am more a fan of the social work school of thought.

Still, it's an interesting idea. I don't know the answer...

dude, I have heard of people saying social workers going into social work to heal their own messed-up problems or fulfilling voids from earlier parts of their lives

Inaccurate descriptions go both ways.