50% psychiatrists divorced?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a psychiatrist. I don’t see this in my day to day life.

It looks like this study was done on psychiatrists who graduated from Hopkins in the 1950’s. This is before there were antidepressants, antipsychotics, or mood stabilizers. Thorazine came out in 1955, but wasn’t widely used. This is also when all of the studies came out on psilocybin (hallucinogenic mushrooms) and LSD in mental illness.

I’m going to guess that most physicians who became psychiatrists around that time were less conservative and less likely to follow social convention than their counterparts in more traditional specialties.

Another psychiatrist here. I agree with the above. I believe this may have been true for the baby boomer cohort, but for Generation X I do not believe it applies. Gen X psychiatrist have a very low divorce rate, are mostly all married, many females went into the profession due to the family friendly hours (although not me) and mostly are very socially conventional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The one psychiatrist I know is weird. She doesn't like people and is socially awkward. I remember being surprised when I first met her because I assumed you wouldn't go into that field if you were anti-social.

She was probably burned out and being social at work with your patients can make you less prone to act social unless you really are committed to wanting to be part of the group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see it as a negative. They probably recognize abuse and unhealthy behavior more than the average person, and they don't settle for it. When I think about the marriages around me, there are verrrrry few I'd ever want to be part of.

That's what I was thinking, or at least that this accounts for a good chunk of it.

If they are so enlightened then why do the pick wrong partners, why can’t they help those partners, why they are depressed and suicidal themselves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see it as a negative. They probably recognize abuse and unhealthy behavior more than the average person, and they don't settle for it. When I think about the marriages around me, there are verrrrry few I'd ever want to be part of.

That's what I was thinking, or at least that this accounts for a good chunk of it.

If they are so enlightened then why do the pick wrong partners, why can’t they help those partners, why they are depressed and suicidal themselves?

There is a lot of animosity toward physicians in DC. Maybe because there are so many lawyers...?

BTW its quite judgmental to call out depressed or suicidal people--its an illness, why cant a bald man grow hair? its not simple that knowledge can make hair follicles appear?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Psychologist have drastically lower salaries compared to psychiatrists but they have less work load, easier cases and no or limited access to meds. They also spend less time in college and training and admission or fold isn’t a competitive one so less stress and less student debt.

Not true AT ALL that psychologists have less work load, easier cases, spend less time in college, and that admission is less competitive. Admissions into Clinical Psychology PhD programs is among the most competitive of any doctoral programs possible. By the time you have your PhD, you likely will have spent about 9-10 years or more in higher education (4 years undergrad, plus 5-6+ years of graduate school getting the MA and PhD).

Clinical psychology can be an incredibly demanding, draining field, and psychologists work with all ranges of patients, including the very same types of patients that psychiatrists work with.

The only thing the PP stated that CAN be true is that psychologists often have less student debt, as many PhD programs are funded via grants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Psychologist have drastically lower salaries compared to psychiatrists but they have less work load, easier cases and no or limited access to meds. They also spend less time in college and training and admission or fold isn’t a competitive one so less stress and less student debt.

Not true AT ALL that psychologists have less work load, easier cases, spend less time in college, and that admission is less competitive. Admissions into Clinical Psychology PhD programs is among the most competitive of any doctoral programs possible. By the time you have your PhD, you likely will have spent about 9-10 years or more in higher education (4 years undergrad, plus 5-6+ years of graduate school getting the MA and PhD).

Clinical psychology can be an incredibly demanding, draining field, and psychologists work with all ranges of patients, including the very same types of patients that psychiatrists work with.

The only thing the PP stated that CAN be true is that psychologists often have less student debt, as many PhD programs are funded via grants.

I have noticed many therapists in the DMV who go by doctor of psychology have a psy.d from an online college....now a real phd from a good psychology program is something else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Psychologist have drastically lower salaries compared to psychiatrists but they have less work load, easier cases and no or limited access to meds. They also spend less time in college and training and admission or fold isn’t a competitive one so less stress and less student debt.

Not true AT ALL that psychologists have less work load, easier cases, spend less time in college, and that admission is less competitive. Admissions into Clinical Psychology PhD programs is among the most competitive of any doctoral programs possible. By the time you have your PhD, you likely will have spent about 9-10 years or more in higher education (4 years undergrad, plus 5-6+ years of graduate school getting the MA and PhD).

Clinical psychology can be an incredibly demanding, draining field, and psychologists work with all ranges of patients, including the very same types of patients that psychiatrists work with.

The only thing the PP stated that CAN be true is that psychologists often have less student debt, as many PhD programs are funded via grants.

I have noticed many therapists in the DMV who go by doctor of psychology have a psy.d from an online college....now a real phd from a good psychology program is something else.

There are no online psychology pHd programs. I'm finishing my MA for Psychology online (though U Mass), it is very common now with Covid. But there are no pHd programs, because it is antithetical to the nature of pHd work.

[Anonymous]

There is no reason to think these results are applicable among those less than about 70. It also seems to have followed jhu docs, a group not representative of the field (speaking generally and specifically about their psychiatry program. That department has for many years been considered…idiosyncratic.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see it as a negative. They probably recognize abuse and unhealthy behavior more than the average person, and they don't settle for it. When I think about the marriages around me, there are verrrrry few I'd ever want to be part of.

That's what I was thinking, or at least that this accounts for a good chunk of it.

Yeah how many people do you hear say “I wish I had seen the warning signs of serious mental illness before it got too hard to divorce?”

[Anonymous]

50 percent or more of everyone is divorced. Not sure why they’d be any different.

[Anonymous]

The JAMA study is also old- from 1973! This would be much more meaningful if the studies were current. I am sure the divorce rate and suicide rate is much lower now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:50 percent or more of everyone is divorced. Not sure why they’d be any different.

No. Its in mid 20’s for college educated couples. Its only 5.8% among optometrists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isnt 50% pretty average for a divorce rate?

No, especially not amongst people with a lot of education.

For educated people is 30%, so still super high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a psychiatrist. I don’t see this in my day to day life.

It looks like this study was done on psychiatrists who graduated from Hopkins in the 1950’s. This is before there were antidepressants, antipsychotics, or mood stabilizers. Thorazine came out in 1955, but wasn’t widely used. This is also when all of the studies came out on psilocybin (hallucinogenic mushrooms) and LSD in mental illness.

I’m going to guess that most physicians who became psychiatrists around that time were less conservative and less likely to follow social convention than their counterparts in more traditional specialties.

Another psychiatrist here. I agree with the above. I believe this may have been true for the baby boomer cohort, but for Generation X I do not believe it applies. Gen X psychiatrist have a very low divorce rate, are mostly all married, many females went into the profession due to the family friendly hours (although not me) and mostly are very socially conventional.

It could be that MD specialists can get divorced. For a lot of middle income people, divorce is expensive in HCOL areas, so a lot of people stay together and miserable in order to maintain the same standard of living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Psychologist have drastically lower salaries compared to psychiatrists but they have less work load, easier cases and no or limited access to meds. They also spend less time in college and training and admission or fold isn’t a competitive one so less stress and less student debt.

PhD Clinical Psychologists do have lower salaries and limited access to meds. As for the rest, you really don’t know what you’re talking about.