According to the definition above, psychiatry is a branch of the medical field that specializes in the mind. Psychiatrists diagnose mental and emotional disorders and try to provide a treatment for them. Some mental disorders are depression, mania, schizophrenia, addictions, phobias, eating disorders, and anxiety disorders. These disorders are diagnosed by their symptoms, patterns in mood, ect.
To me, psychiatry is a very interesting field. The many capabilities of the brain are astonishing, and the fact that alteration of chemicals in the brain can have an affect on the well being of humans. It intrigues me that a psychiatrist can effectively treat disorders of the mind without performing some sort of test to prove that you have a certain mental disorder, like other doctors can with lab work. Their techniques and people skills are very developed, and they have to be very calm in stressful situations.
This picture shows the limbic system of the brain. This system is the primary part of the brain that controls emotion.
Amygdala Complex: Processes emotional content of behavior and memory.
Hippocampus: Converts versions of events from short term memory to long term memory.
Hypothalamus: Tells brain what is happening inside of body.
In case you haven’t noticed, I am a people person. I can talk to pretty much anyone about anything. I also enjoy learning new things, as long as they keep me interested, and I am a quick learner at that. Given that information, I would prefer to work in a science field that revolves around the human race, and that requires talking with people. I’m also interested in learning about the brain, and how the mind can easily alter emotions.
I really only have one goal to achieve in the future, which is to be successful. Being successful, to me, includes having enough money to support myself, making a contribution to society, and enjoying my work. Becoming a psychiatrist, I believe, would achieve my goal, because psychiatrists make pretty good money, I would get to help people struggling to live life effectively, and the work would intrigue me. Even though the job would be tough, and would require many years of school and training, it would be worth it. I enjoy a good challenge.
Thinking outside of the box is the type of thinking required to become a psychiatrist. Patients will come along that might be difficult to diagnose, and problem solving skills would be quite useful. I have that type of thinking, and I have a good basis for further development of my problem solving skills. A hard work ethic is also needed, which I have a good grasp on, and I am very determined.
The ultimate goal the world of psychiatry has is to be able to identify and understand all mental disorders of the mind and brain, and also to find the exact cause for them. There is only room for advancement, and any advancement in this field will be for the better. Millions of people with mental or mood disorders will benefit, and the people that they affect will benefit also. So many families have been stuck with loved ones suffering from mental disease, and maybe in my generation, a big discovery will be made, and the suffering will come to an end.
5 comments:
Thats really interesting that you would be able to treat a mental disorder without performing any lab work. How exactly does that work? This was great though!
I agree with Hannah. I never really thought about it, but it does seem impressive that we can diagnose diseases by basically just asking questions. From looking at the picture of the brain, though, I wonder if taking an MRI of the brain or any other type of reading could help psychiatrists diagnose.
I'm also sort of wondering about the diagnoss. Because it seems like with an eating disorder or something you could just tell but with something more complicated, like schizophrenia you would need proof that they have it. Also is it psychiatrists os psycologists that prescribe medecine?
Yeah, I agree with Hannah and Bethany. What exactly would you do if someone was making it up though? If they pretended to have a mental disorder? How could you tell if they actually had it, or were faking?
I think this field is really intersting, because the functions and diseases of the brain are so different from the rest of the body, and there is so much we have yet to learn about psychiatric disorders. I also think that this would be a good field, if you enjoyed working with others.
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