Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

schizophrenia - medicine or other?

I'm interested in studying schizophrenia and similar mental health issues, from a research point of view, however I'm not certain which university course I should be looking at! I thought perhaps medicine and then a specialised course, however I don't particularly want to become a doctor.
Thanks!

Reply 1

345rty

Its a big area with many different research approaches.

Clinically you could approach it through psychiatry which would require a medical degree followed by specialisation,

more biochemically you could go from a pharmacology, neuroscience, biology, physiology etc etc etc

you could do mental health issues research as a statistician...

What kind of research do you want to be doing?

Reply 2

ilem

Don't do medicine if you don't want to be a doctor.

Reply 3

Angury

If you don't want to be a doctor, I wouldn't recommend going through medicine. You'll end up studying a lot of science which won't be related to mental health, not to mention all the non-psych placements. It'll be difficult to find the motivation go through five years of med school if you're only interested in mental health and nothing else, as there is so much more to the course.

Have you looked into psychology or neuroscience? Those sound more suited to your tastes.

Here's a list of neuroscience courses in the UK, which can give you more detail about the degree at different universities and what it entails:

https://www.bna.org.uk/about/neuroscience-courses-in-uk.html

And the same for psychology:

http://www.bps.org.uk/bpslegacy/ac

(edited 10 years ago)