Questions!
What's the thing you find most interesting in psychology?
I think in general I just really enjoy figuring out why people do the things they do, think the things they think and so on. Unfortunately I haven't quite found a sub-field that I find the most interesting as of yet. I love them all equally. Except personality. It's way too vague and abstract for me to wrap my head around. Social Psychology is really fascinating though!
Do you think it will be challenging for your to work with people and their serious problems as a clinical psychiatrist?
I begin with clarifying that psychologists are not psychiatrists. It's a common misconception, and I think every Psych major always ends up having to explain this concept to others. Psychiatrists have medical degrees and are allowed to dispense medication. Psychologists are not. Psychiatrists tend to focus on the more serious psychological disorders (schizo etc), whereas psychologists will look at everything.
I begin with clarifying that psychologists are not psychiatrists. It's a common misconception, and I think every Psych major always ends up having to explain this concept to others. Psychiatrists have medical degrees and are allowed to dispense medication. Psychologists are not. Psychiatrists tend to focus on the more serious psychological disorders (schizo etc), whereas psychologists will look at everything.
Aside from that, If I do end up going towards clinical psychology, I think it will be intensely challenging. Especially when you realize just how difficult life can be for those who have disorders, and how stigmatized they are due to it. Some disorders can be pretty frightening as well.
Do you have any practical experience yet?
Not as of yet! In general, you don't get clinical practice within the undergraduate degree modules, unless you yourself go find a clinic that will let you do an internship or something. Practical experience is only incorporated into the Masters in Clinical Psychology program.
We undergrads mostly spend a lot of time doing research and sometimes experiments. In fact, I just ran my first ever experiment this semester which was pretty cool.
We undergrads mostly spend a lot of time doing research and sometimes experiments. In fact, I just ran my first ever experiment this semester which was pretty cool.
When I was a kid....
Like all Malaysian (and possibly all other) children, my childhood ambitions were to be: Teacher, Doctor, Scientist. Basically parent approved ambitions. But I ventured out to include Policewoman into that list as well. Wasn't entirely creative when it came to future ambitions.
Corresponding to the doctor ambition, I decided that I would be a gynaecologist when I was about 8 years old. Except I didn't know the term gynaecologist, so I just told my teacher I wanted to be the "doctor who gave birth to babies" (Translated directly from Malay). She then proceeded to tell me all women could do that without having to be a doctor. She does have a point....
Til next time, DFTBA!
I think becoming a teacher, doctor or vet are international childhood ambitions :)
ReplyDeleteIn university we have a module called "Nervous system and human behavior" at the moment and we also have quite much psychiatry in that module. I'm not a big fan of psychology, but I find clinical psychiatry very fascinating.
How is it going with the tsunami in Malaysia?
I am currently doing a module called Biological Psychology which would likely be similar to the.module you're talking about. Basically a lot of human behaviour is regulated by neurotransmitters + hormones + genetics, so such modules cover the non -environmental influences.
ReplyDeleteThey called off all the tsunami alerts last night (8pm), so all is well! The tremors were felt in some high rise buildings in various parts of the country, even in the city where I am which is nowhere near the beach at all. But thankfully that was the extent of it. Thanks for asking though!