They make a diagnosis and work with you to develop a management plan for your treatment and recovery. Psychiatrists provide psychological treatment , prescribe medications and do procedures such as rTMS or electroconvulsive therapy. They will also offer practical advice about diet, sleep and other ways you can help yourself get better. They will provide you with information about your condition, which can help you to understand your symptoms and treatments.
Evan, Melbourne. Psychiatrists do at least 11 years of training — usually more. They first do a medical degree at university. Next they spend at least 1 or 2 years doing general medical training in a hospital.
This is done while working in hospitals, rural health or community health services. Some psychiatrists have completed part of their training overseas. They usually complete further training to practice locally. All psychiatrists must also be registered with the relevant medical board in Australia or New Zealand in order to see patients.
Psychiatrists work in public and private hospitals, community mental health services and in private consulting rooms. While the country has made greater strides within the past 50 years in terms of how we perceive individuals with mental health challenges, as well as investing in better treatments and methods of discovery, there is still much to be addressed.
There are still numerous stigmas associated with having mental health issues, especially in places such as the average workplace, the military and other venues.
On the other hand, the good news is that awareness is growing, and there are strong pushes to get a better balance with our mental health in our lives, and receive the treatment we need to live a well-rounded life. So when it comes to mental health treatment, what makes psychiatry so important? The ability to have access to proper mental health care is increasingly critical, and has been highlighted by the growing number of children, adolescents, adults and seniors who are struggling with particular behavioral health issues or mental health conditions in this country.
We are seeing an increasing number of addictions on the rise, such as opiate use, alcohol and other drug abuse. Depression rates have continued increasing as well, and there is a serious issue within our military, as the suicide rate has skyrocketed.
Part of the solution is to help fight against stigmas associated with having mental health conditions, and making sure that men and women are able to get the help that they need to treat their conditions. Like many doctors, psychiatrists can work in hospitals or clinics.
They can work for large health care facilities or smaller ones. About half of all psychiatrists in the US maintain private practice.
In a field as vast and varied as medicine, there are many medical specializations to choose from. So why should one pursue a career in psychiatry? For starters, the satisfaction of helping patients achieve a higher quality of life is a very rewarding aspect of this field. Johnson says. A person with depression is no longer missing days at work and received a promotion. A person with mania returned to college. A person with an addiction stays sober.
A person with psychosis gets their own apartment. Johnson shares. Outcomes in psychiatry may not be as black-and-white as in other specialties. But in psychiatry, success reveals itself in a range of immeasurable results. Metzger states. It is a gift to see them get their joy back.
Beyond the satisfaction of helping patients overcome their own personal challenges, psychiatry also offers many specialties for doctors to pursue throughout a career.
With a very high literacy level, there is much wider acceptability and utilization of psychiatric services here.
A large majority of them avail treatment from primary health centers, especially for financial reasons. If the medical officers in these primary care facilities have adequate knowledge in Psychiatry, it will be a great gain for mental health.
Imparting this knowledge to primary health centre doctors is best achieved through adequate training in Psychiatry during their MBBS course. Primary care facilities are well organized in India. Delivering mental health care through primary care will be cost-effective, possible, and practical.
The number of psychiatrists in India is only about for 1. This is grossly inadequate. The number of psychiatrists should be tripled if we have to achieve a minimum ratio of 1 psychiatrist for , people. Even this is not conceivable now. Only medical graduates, having at least basic training in Psychiatry, can fill up this huge vacuum. There is poor understanding of the psychological distress as requiring medical intervention in the general population. Poor literacy is one factor which leads to lack of awareness regarding mental disorders.
Stigma is another important barrier to mental health care. It has been observed that there are large treatment gaps and treatment delays in India. Studies have shown that about half of the patients of schizophrenia are living in the community without treatment. Community involvement is crucial to mental health. Although it is not advisable to mix up various systems of medicine in India, opening up of a dialogue and exploring collaboration may be very helpful.
In delivering mental health care, community psychiatry is a suitable model not only in rich countries but also in low- and middle-income LAMI countries. Setting up of special institutions for the care of the persons with mental disorders asylums , the humane treatment of the ill persons, deinstitutionalization, and recognition of the rights of the ill persons with mental disorders[ 4 ] are some of the phases through which Community Psychiatry has developed in the world.
Community Psychiatry in India is nearly six decades old. During the first 2 years, there are about 60 h of teaching in various psychosocial areas. In the third year, 30 h are devoted to practical teaching of Psychiatry. In the fourth year, there is a full-time posting of 8 weeks of Psychiatry clerkship compared to 8 weeks each allotted for Obstetrics and Pediatrics and 12 weeks for both Medicine and Surgery. In Denmark, the teaching of mental disorders started in and was well established in During the fifties, it acquired the status of a major clinical subject, rising to third place after Surgery and Medicine and ahead of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology.
It is a major clinical discipline with a qualifying examination at the end of the course. In Britain, Psychiatry established its place in medical education in the forties. However, it went through major changes in the seventies following the General Medical Council's recommendations in regarding medical education, which re-emphasized the importance of Behavioral Sciences and Psychiatry in medical teaching and practice.
Currently, 80 h are devoted to the behavioral science course during basic medical science teaching. During the clinical course, students first learn interview skills and psychiatry history taking once a day during the 36 weeks and then attend a full-time Psychiatry clerkship for 3 months.
This is usually followed by a university examination as in other subjects. In South Asia, both Sri Lanka and Nepal give prominence to Psychiatry and medical students need to pass examination in Psychiatry to qualify for medical degree.
There are three reasons for this agreement. First, the general approach of Psychiatry which stresses the unity of body and mind is important in the whole of medical practice. Secondly, skills that are learned in Psychiatry are important for all doctors: for example, the ability to form a good relationship with a patient, to assess the mental state, and to convey distressing information. Thirdly, psychiatric problems are common among patients seen by doctors working in all branches of medicine.
Psychiatric disorders are even more frequent among patients attending general practice. Therefore, all future doctors must know about these psychiatric problems, not only because they are common but also because their management involves much medical time and resources and gives rise to many serious incidents. In many countries, doctors who have chosen a career in primary care general practice receive a further period of training after graduation; and in most of these countries, this training extends their psychiatric skills.
Strengthening undergraduate training in Psychiatry and having an examination on the subject at the university level had been an agenda of Indian Psychiatric Society IPS for the last half a century.
When about one half of the clientele of a GP anywhere consists of such patients who require psychiatric help, it is only essential that the general medical practitioner be properly equipped to deal with them.
In an editorial in Indian Journal of Psychiatry , BB Sethi [ 26 ] pleaded for a better deal for training in Psychiatry at undergraduate level. Training teachers of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences in our medical colleges should engage our active attention much more than it has done so far. Apart from the reasons cited above, there are other compelling reasons for such a training, with special reference to our country.
He also stressed the need for experiential component to the student in the form of a field visit to a village and surveying the attitudes of people to nutrition, beliefs about health and illness, or a visit to a family. He also noted that there was absence of provision for examination in Psychiatry, which led to the neglect of the subject. It was expected that other centers too will take up similar training programs.
Sadly this has not happened. We need a renewed effort on this. The recommendations of the NMHP [ 10 ] noted that the amount and type of mental health training to medical undergraduates in our country is grossly inadequate. The NMHP saw the potential of using these future medical doctors as agents of a new and better mental health service system for our country.
The working committee of NMHP also stressed that the amount and content of undergraduate psychiatric training be altered to address the mental health needs of our country. The patients with physical illness have concomitant emotional problems requiring professional handling, therefore teaching of Psychiatry at undergraduate level becomes even more relevant and essential.
It stated that a medical student on graduation should be able to deliver mental health services at primary care level and listed the following main objectives. Able to appreciate the interplay between psychological and physical factors in medical presentations.
Aware of common psychopharmacological interventions in clinical practice of psychiatry. Able to apply basic counseling skills and comfort in discussing common psychiatric issues with the patient or the relative. Aware of statutory and educational provisions with regard to psychiatric illnesses and disability. Able to develop helpful and humane attitude toward psychological, psychiatric, and behavioral difficulties. The doubling of the marks to 20 in the theory paper for medicine and it was agreed that the questions of Psychiatry would be made mandatory.
Undoubtedly, all the above measures are progressive and are to be welcomed. Unfortunately, except for the decision on internship, all other decisions are yet to be implemented. The general attitude among medical students is that they will not take a subject seriously unless there is an exam on that subject. It is very sad that the MCI has not responded positively to this urgent need for examination in Psychiatry. Due to the constraint of the council to restricting the burden of examination on medical students, additional paper in Psychiatry and other subjects cannot be considered.
Major public health problems like depression, suicides, alcohol and substance use, and adolescent psychiatric problems have been completely ignored. We believe these concerted efforts for a just cause have convinced the Government of India on the matter.
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