Psychiatry

From a very early age, I recall being fascinated by the field and study of psychiatry. Through life experiences, which I will briefly describe, I saw that lives can be devastated by mental illness, and I developed a passion for learning more about it, and making it my life’s work. When I was 15 years old, my sister experienced a sudden-onset depression, which led to psychotic episodes, bulimia, anorexia, and multiple suicide attempts. I had always considered our childhood as one filled with…

Running head: CHILD PSYCHIARTRY AND THE INFLUENCE OF GENETICS 1 Are Genetics Responsible for Mental Illnesses in Children? Tosin O. Ojerinde Towson University Psychiatry is the study and treatment of mental illnesses; child psychiatry focuses specifically on mental illnesses and abnormal behaviors in children. This topic interests me because it is a topic that is often overlooked in society. Childhood is an imperative stage of life and if…

(Boehnlein, 14). The link between Christianity and Psychiatry is what helped to strengthen the justification of what was wrong with the person, as well as how to treat them, because people used religion as a way to defend themselves and accuse others of sin when people became sick. This was shown with the link between the two ideas, so people could diagnose the conditions of the people who were considered to have gone mad. The connection of Psychiatry and the Devil allowed people to justify any…

Within the previous year, 13 percent of children ages 8 to 15 in the U.S. were diagnosed with some kind of a mental disorder and 17.9 percent of adults in the U.S. were diagnosed with a mental illness. For many individuals their mental illness can get out of control if left untreated; it’s the job of the psychiatrist, to diagnose, treat, and prevent mental disorders from becoming too overwhelming. To become a psychiatrist a person must complete medical school and take a written examination for a…

my niche. Almost my entire adolescent life I have worked with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome or mental health issues. This experience and my passion for science has allowed me to determine my hopefully future career; psychiatry. Psychiatry is a career I have been interested in for some time. “Psychiatrists are mental health professionals and licensed medical doctors who provide assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders” (Miller, n.d.). This career is…

When exploring the field of psychiatry, one may notice a lot of skepticism regarding the opinions psychiatrists offer. A lot of this uncertainty can be traced back to the early 70’s, when David Rosenhan, a psychologist, decided to test how well therapists could differentiate mentally stable people from those unstable (Slater 63). There are many questions that sprang up from Rosenhan’s experiment. Are psychiatrists’ opinions reliable? Do psychiatrists tend to diagnose patients with whatever…

The decision to pursue a career in psychiatry was a result of multiple personal and academic experiences. Prior to entering medical school, I had the opportunity to work with organizations such as Children’s Aid Society (CAS), Mental Health Connections (MHC), and the ADHD and Alzheimer’s Clinic of Windsor. Each organization provided different learning opportunities. At CAS I worked with a 1st grade child with a speech impediment and appreciated the importance of patience, perseverance, and…

When I was a child I had no notions of becoming a doctor; my favorite toy wasn’t a red, plastic stethoscope, but perhaps the fact that I did not discover Psychiatry until clinical rotations I immediately realized its amazing potential and felt a sense of connection. Not only have I always loved talking to people, but I am a natural listener and often, in even seemingly casual conversations, have heard subtle changes in voice that have led me to believe that this person was troubled despite being…

then back to the frontal cortex (Yerevanian, 2010). To back up The Carlat Psychiatry Report’s research, supporting the hypothesis is the results of neurosurgical treatment of obsession-compulsion disorder (Huey, 2010). Believed to mediate anxiety or other emotional symptoms is the limbic system, which in conjunction with Papez circuit, the cingulotomy interrupts the loop at the anterior cingulate cortex (The Carlat Psychiatry Report, 2014). In the same aspect, the fronto-thalamic…

recharged with an entirely new perspective on life. Going to medical school, I imagined becoming that physician who cures cancer and fatal diseases. I soon realized that I wasn’t looking to destroy diseases, but rather I was aspiring to save people. Psychiatry appeals to me because of my ongoing encounters on a personal and professional level. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, my sister is constantly fighting an enduring battle. I witnessed firsthand how mental illness shifts the dynamic of a…