Class: Eng 101
Assignment: What I want to be
Grade: 92/100
Neuropsychiatry:
Because Psychologists are losers
In May 2009, I was hired into the management training program at a local grocery store. I felt on top of the world. No longer would I be without a job, and the job I had was full of promise; however, in July 2011 my personal “cloud nine” fell to earth. I lost my job at the store, which was on its way to closing. I had no Idea what I would do, and my mind was too clouded for me to think of any viable options. I quickly took a job at Chick-Fil-A, hoping to work my way up to manager; meanwhile, my mind continued to wander, searching for something that felt correct, which I knew wouldn’t be Chick-Fil-A. As my mind continued to wander, I kept coming back to something I had only considered in passing beforehand: Neuropsychiatry.
I
have always had somewhat of a passive interest in Neuropsychiatry: from the
time I was undergoing treatments as a child for learning disabilities, to my
treatment for MDD and anxiety as a teenager, I always felt drawn to the field.
The psychiatrists I’ve dealt with had left huge impressions on me about how
wonderful psychiatrists truly are. All
three of my psychiatrists were been wonderful, caring, and intelligent people--
exactly how I had always envisioned myself as an adult. Dr. Otto, the
first psychiatrist who treated
me, was much kinder than I had expected. He took the time to explain everything
about the neurology of ADD, and we was intuitive enough to know that I was
smart enough to understand it. Dr. Pam, who was completing her fellowship under
Dr. Otto, immediately came across as a sweet and gentile person. She would ask
so many questions, wanting to know more about me than just my learning
disabilities; she even gave my mom and me advice on how to get rid of some
pests that had found their way into our house. Dr. Oh was the first doctor who
was able to find the right treatment for my MDD and social anxiety. Instead of
just drugging me up like most psychiatrist would do, he took almost an hour
talking with me, getting to know all of me, and was smart enough to know what
drugs to use when and when to use alternative means, such as psychotherapy. As
I came to know my doctors, and began reflecting on the qualities that they put
out, I began to feel like I should be just like them; I felt that I should use
my natural intuition and caring nature to help others like they do. I began
more and more to want to be a psychotherapist.
As
I began to think about what exactly I wanted to do, I thought of several ideas,
including child/adolescent psychotherapy and addiction therapy. For a long
time, I felt that I should pursue an undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. in
phycology; it gave me a clear road, and It was easy to accomplish. All I would
need to do was get started by going to school. Graduate programs were aplenty
enough, and I didn’t really need a Ph.D. to practice addiction medicine. I
began researching different psychology programs across the country, and I began
to educate myself on the different types of psychologists that existed. But as I continued my learning and thought
about exactly what it was I wanted to accomplish, I realized I was looking in
the right direction, but I was a bit off; I am better suited for psychiatry. I
wanted to treat people medically, and have means available to me that
psychologists don’t, such as pharmaceuticals. While often confused, I learned
that psychology and psychiatry differ in two fundamental ways: psychology is
the general study of behavior, and can include things such as family counseling; inversely, psychiatry is strictly the study of abnormal behavior, and doesn’t include general counseling. Also, a psychologist is someone with a degree in psychology; a psychiatrist is, as mentioned earlier, a physician. A psychiatrist is either an MD or DO, meaning he has completed four years of medical school, and then completed a residency in psychiatry, possibly followed by a fellowship in some sub-specialty like forensics or addiction medicine. The main advantage of being an MD is I would get to use medications in my treatments. Medications were a vital part of my own treatments, and as such, I am a big believer is the use of medications is the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders. When I had my first appointment with Dr. Oh, he put me on a regiment of Prozac and Welbutrin. The effect took some time, but as they slowly built up in my system, I began to notice changes in the way things affected me. I slept better; I felt happier; I enjoyed being around my friends again. Because of my experience with the positive effects on these medications, I’ve become a big believer in the place pharmaceuticals have in healing of both mind and body, for conditions such as MDD are both a psychological and neurological.
As I continued researching
psychiatry, I began making a mental checklist of the things I needed to
accomplish before, and during, my undergraduate years. Because of the
difficulties involved in Medical school, physical, emotional and mental, the
admissions committees for most med schools want to make sure the people they
select are genuinely interested in medicine as well as genuinely capable of
handling medical school. There are almost three applicants per one medical
school opening every year, so the admissions committees don’t want someone who
couldn’t make it taking the place of someone who could. One of the things
medical schools look at is clinical exposure: how much time has an applicant
actually spent around people in a medical setting? Another aspect they look at
is research. Almost all medical schools are large parts of the medical research
community, and it’s vital that the students conducting the research have
experience with how those kinds of things are done. Another
aspect of the application is community involvement. Long gone are the days of physicians who are simply physicians; todays doctors must be active, vitals pieces to the community as a whole. When admissions look at med school applications, they want the applicants to show that they genuinely want to be a part of a community and not simply to be the doctors of a by-gone era when doctors were above, and better than those they treated; likewise, they want applicants to be capable of being modern doctors. They want people who have real experience with the things doctors do.
In order to be a
competitive applicant, I immediately began looking for ways to gain clinical
exposure. One of the most common methods is shadowing. I had a friend who
worked the E.R. at the local hospital, so I took an opportunity to shadow him
during one of his shifts. While most of the patients we saw were, one could say
boring cases, I did some first-hand experience with a patient showing the signs
of psychosis. He had attempted suicide, and eventually had to be tied to his
bed. During my time, I also saw the ugly side of medicine in regards to mental
health. While my friend is a more than competent physician, he, and the nursing
staff, treated the psychosis patient with complete apathy. I later learned this is usually the case, and
even some psychiatrists can behave similarly. While this startled me, I came
away knowing even more that I needed to be different. While I certainly don’t
have delusions of grandeur, I feel like the man in the starfish analogy-- I
can’t help them all, but to the ones I do help, it makes a difference. As I
reflect on the little experience I gained from that, I know that it will be
useful to me as I pursue my dream of making the difference in people’s lives.
Aside Shadowing,
I have the opportunity to fulfil other med school requirements here at BYU-I.
BYU-I offers me the availability of all my non-academic prerequisites nearby.
One of the classes I am required to take for my Neurobiology degree is a
research course, which will also give me research hours I can put on my application.
Likewise, there is a lot tons of opportunity on campus for me to shadow
physicians at the Student Health
Center, and various physicians around the Rexburg area. On top of that, the
school offers many groups, clubs, and service opportunities that I can use to
put on my application to medical school. These opportunities, as I use them,
add experience that will help me prove to admissions committees that I am able
to meet and exceed the demands of medical school, and a career as any time of
physician.
The most important aspect of a med school application is academics. More than anything, admissions committees want to know that those whom they accept can handle the rigors of med school. Once a person fails out of Med School, they don’t get another chance; likewise, they took the spot of someone who may have made it all the way through. In order to have a good shot at being accepted, I would need to maintain a minimum GPA around 3.8 or so, and an MCAT of around 35. The average GPA for my first choice med school, the Florida State University College of Medicine, is a 3.6 and an MCAT of 29; however, that includes minority students who get in with less-competitive applications, but have affirmative action to back them up. My intentions are to graduate with a 4.0, making myself even more distinguished from the competition. While that seems far-fetched, I know it’s possible. My acquaintance Kate recently graduated from BYU-I with a 4.0, and know of others that have as well. I’ve also chosen to take tougher classes to fulfil the academic prerequisites. Instead of taking application of physics to fulfil my physics requirement, I am taking a calculus-based physics. Admissions weigh the difficulty of courses when considering applications, and a calculus-based physics class will certainly be worth more in that light than a 101 physics course. Irrespective of exactly which courses I take, I still have to maintain a high GPA. While I intend to graduate with a 4.0 GPA, I cannot be so fixated on that goal that I lose hope simply with one grade that what could have been a 3.9 instead becomes a 2.9.
Perhaps keeping in mind my experiences as a youngling will be what it takes for me make it all the way through medical school and residency. It was my own treatments that encouraged me to pursue Neuropsychiatry after all. I know that I would be happy being the type of person my psychiatrists are. Pushing through my clinicals, putting in hours of community work, hours of research, and rigorous academics certainly are not appealing in and of themselves, but they are the means to an end: Dr. Joshua Aaron Pillow, MD
