Duties of a Psychiatrist

Happiness AbdulLast Updated: March 22, 2023

Table of Contents

Duties of a Psychiatrist

Doctors that specialize in diagnosing and treating mental diseases are known as psychiatrists. They treat patients using a range of methods, including medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis. Patients who visit psychiatrists’ offices or who are in hospitals are seen by them.

Duties of a Psychiatrist

The tasks and obligations of psychiatrists include:

Sending a patient for psychiatric evaluation to establish a diagnosis and evaluate its seriousness
Creating a treatment strategy and making recommendations
Talking to patients about their issues in an effort to find solutions (psychotherapy or talk therapy)
Investigating the patients’ prior experiences to discover how they impact their present mindset and behavior (psychoanalysis)
Assisting patients to alter their thought and behavior (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT)
Prescribing drugs to treat chemical abnormalities that have an impact on a patient’s mood and behavior
To assist their patients in overcoming mental diseases or controlling their symptoms, psychiatrists carry out these tasks.

Psychiatrist Salary

Earnings for psychiatrists depend on geography and experience. They make a minimum of $216,090 a year in salary on average.

Duties of a Psychiatrist

Information, Training, and Certification

Psychiatrists graduate from college and enroll in medical school. They complete a psychiatry residency in a hospital after graduating from medical school.

College: Pre-med students should select a major in college that will allow them to take courses in biology, general and organic chemistry, arithmetic, Language, and statistics.

Medical School: After receiving a bachelor’s degree, all future doctors are required to complete four years of study at a medical school that has received accreditation from the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) or the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). A very high grade point average (GPA) in college, an outstanding MCAT score, and great leadership and communication abilities are all prerequisites for admission. Also, candidates for medical school must submit a personal statement. Medical Doctors (MDs) are graduates of LCME-accredited institutions, and dentists (DOs) are graduates of COCA-accredited institutions (Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine).

Residency: After medical school, future psychiatrists must complete a residency that is approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for at least four years (ACGME). Psychiatric residents provide care for patients with a range of disorders during their first year of training, and during the course of the balance of their training—typically three years—learn how to identify and treat persons with mental illnesses. After graduating, a student has the option of pursuing further training in a specialization such addiction, child and adolescent, geriatric, military, or community and public health psychiatry.
The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology accepts applications for board certification following the completion of a psychiatric residency (ABPN).

License: In order to practice medicine, all physicians including psychiatrists must get a state-issued license. This necessitates passing either the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX-USA) for DOs or the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) for MDs.

Psychiatrist Competencies & Skills

A psychiatrist needs the following skills in addition to the ones they learned in medical school and during their residency:

Interpersonal Skills: A psychiatrist needs to be able to connect with and win over a patient.
They must have great speaking and listening abilities to interact with patients, their families, and other healthcare professionals.
Critical Thinking: Psychiatrists must evaluate the benefits of various treatments and choose the best course of action for their patients.
Monitoring: They must assess how well their patients are responding to treatment and adjust as necessary.
Integrity: Psychiatrists, like all medical professionals, are required to respect the privacy of all communications with their patients.

Job Prospects

Psychiatrists have a promising employment future. Psychiatrist employment is expected to increase by 16%, which is faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared to other disciplines including anesthesia, family and general practice, and internal medicine, growth is anticipated to be a little less rapid.