Favorite challenge

[NeuroKlitch]

Hope this makes sense , but what is your favorite challenge in psychiatry . In my limited experience , it appears so for that the diagnosis process itself is not much of an mental challenge , and probably not the most important thing really when it comes to inpatient psych. My favorite part of medicine are the puzzles and learning the complexities of different pathophysiology. Is there enough of that in psych ? I feel like the "chemical imbalance" explanation for most things is what discourages me. But I guess in psych the challenge IS ur patient , and the sociological factors that tie into their disease. Anyway. Interested in hearing ur thoughts , and what challenges motivated u.


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[bschaefer97]

Why does the "chemical imbalance" explanation discourage you? That is what I find most exciting/challenging about the field. It shows that we have progressed enough to be able to describe mental illness, etc as a physiological problem, one that we can hope to fix by furthering our understanding of that certain chemical imbalance. That leads to great research questions in the field of medicine in general, and historically opened doors for mental illnesses to be classified as disease and not as just referring to patients as crazy.

 

[Armadillos]

Hope this makes sense , but what is your favorite challenge in psychiatry . In my limited experience , it appears so for that the diagnosis process itself is not much of an mental challenge , and probably not the most important thing really when it comes to inpatient psych. My favorite part of medicine are the puzzles and learning the complexities of different pathophysiology. Is there enough of that in psych ? I feel like the "chemical imbalance" explanation for most things is what discourages me. But I guess in psych the challenge IS ur patient , and the sociological factors that tie into their disease. Anyway. Interested in hearing ur thoughts , and what challenges motivated u.


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I may not be the finest psychiatrist, but atleast for me personally, nailing the right diagnose(s) is probably the trickiest part of inpatient psych.

 

[Blitz2006]

Getting someone off a benzo

 

[birchswing]

Why does the "chemical imbalance" explanation discourage you? That is what I find most exciting/challenging about the field. It shows that we have progressed enough to be able to describe mental illness, etc as a physiological problem, one that we can hope to fix by furthering our understanding of that certain chemical imbalance. That leads to great research questions in the field of medicine in general, and historically opened doors for mental illnesses to be classified as disease and not as just referring to patients as crazy.

Knowing that chemicals influence a constellation of symptoms positively is not the same as knowing that there is a chemical imbalance causing the constellation of symptoms. As far as I know, that's the state of the science currently. A very nice sentiment, though, to not stigmatize mental illness. It's kind of the same as the born gay or not argument I never understood, where somehow people felt they had to prove they were born gay to merit respect, dignity, rights. But it seemed to help even though I don't know the extent to which it was scientifically sound.

 

[Shikima]

I may not be the finest psychiatrist, but atleast for me personally, nailing the right diagnose(s) is probably the trickiest part of inpatient psych.

Uses Crack Cocaine; Must be Schizophrenia.