Psychologist or psychiatrist
I think im interested in studying psychology but I’m not sure which career path I should take. I haven’t done much research but the more I do the more complicated the details are and Im getting confused. Can someone please explain to me the steps of like being a psychologist and being a psychiatrist. For example, how many years do you have to study for each one and what are the differences between them
and what are the requirements and which one would be better?
and what are the requirements and which one would be better?
Original post by anonymous7070
I think im interested in studying psychology but I’m not sure which career path I should take. I haven’t done much research but the more I do the more complicated the details are and Im getting confused. Can someone please explain to me the steps of like being a psychologist and being a psychiatrist. For example, how many years do you have to study for each one and what are the differences between them
and what are the requirements and which one would be better?
and what are the requirements and which one would be better?
Main difference between a clinical psychologist (which I think is what you meant as opposed to a research psychologist) and a psychiatrist, is that a psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can also give you drugs. A psychologist can't do that legally.
Both roles are equally difficult to get into. The main difficulty with psychiatry is getting the degree in medicine. The main difficulty with psychology is getting the clinical doctorate (not PhD, unless you want to go into research only), since the places for them are ridiculously competitive and you will likely need to get it through the NHS.
See the job profiles for both:
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/psychiatrist
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/clinical-psychologist
They usually recommend that if you want to go into clinical psychology to do a master's in psychology (not a conversion course unless you did something completely different in your undergrad, and even then they recommend you do a "proper" master's in a psychology subject afterwards) and a year's work in the mental health field (e.g. mental health practitioner) before going into the doctorate, but the mandatory is a BPS accredited psychology degree. A standard doctorate can take you 3 years (you would be stretching it if you can do it in 2, but there is no upper limit to how long it takes you to complete it - would be very concerned if it took you more than 5 years though).
For psychiatry, you would need the following after your 5 year degree:
•
a 2-year foundation programme of general training
•
3 years core training in psychiatry
•
specialist training which can take up to 3 years
So psychologist takes at least 6 years (more likely 8 with the master's and work experience) and a psychiatrist at least 13.
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