Psychiatry is a multifaceted career choice that centers on helping others at its core. It has a lot of upward mobility, longevity, and diversity in the field’s typical roles. However, it can be an emotionally challenging field to start a career in, and it’s important to take note of just what it takes to become a successful psychiatrist. Not everyone can handle the work in the long term. Knowing what traits work best for aspiring psychiatrists is the first step to deciding if it’s the career path you want to take. What sort of key traits are ideal for a role in psychiatry?
Flexibility
With a diverse range of patients who suffer from various mental health issues from anxiety to major phobias, it’s important for an aspiring psychiatrist to be flexible with their schedule, expectations, and treatment plans. Each patient or mental condition comes with a unique variety of symptoms, so it’s incredibly important that a psychiatrist is able to accommodate many different needs and treatments.
Patience
It’s crucial for those in the mental health field to be patient. Many symptoms make it difficult for patients to show up or start communicating, which may simply require watching and waiting. Psychiatrists need to balance encouragement without pressure so patients may feel comfortable.
Compartmentalization
Like many other roles in the medical field, it can be difficult to manage patients with total objectivity. Those with mental health problems may delve into the subject of suicide or heavy depression; some may be dealing with trauma that involves difficult subjects. The ability to manage stress well and have a strong work-life balance is probably one of the most important traits a psychiatrist can have. Exposure to difficult symptoms and patients under extreme duress is quite common in psychiatric roles.
Communicative
Any role that requires direct client interaction requires solid communication. If you are unclear in communication, it can make patients feel uncertain or uncomfortable. It’s important that patients struggling with any mental health condition understand what treatment will be involved and how psychiatric sessions will go. This is important in building client trust. While you do need to have great active listening skills as well, if you can’t communicate with your client about what you’ve been told, it can make your job ineffective.
Understanding
Similarly to being patient, it’s incredibly beneficial for a psychiatrist to be understanding. Mental health symptoms can often be socially inconvenient for all parties involved, and they’re challenging to control or manage. Understanding this and working with patients in a way that benefits both of you requires solid understanding skills.
Cultured
Not all people react the same way to everything. Understanding various cultures, attitudes, and communities outside of your own can help you better relate to patients and understand their struggles. Knowing how other cultures behave can help you process their trauma and manage their symptoms better. It also helps the wider field of psychiatry as a whole to create culturally sensitive treatment plans.
Confidence
Many patients suffering from mental health conditions can be apprehensive about seeking treatment. Being kind but confident can help provide much-needed reassurance to a lot of patients about your skills and your ability to help them manage their conditions. Insecurity and anxiousness can create a negative feedback loop for both you and your patients.
Logical
Psychiatrists provide a logical thought process for their patients to help them have better coping and self-soothing skills. This requires knowing how to develop logical points of view to combat challenging mental illnesses.
Perceptive
Certain mental illness symptoms can create a very narrow view of situations. A perceptive psychiatrist can help expand patients’ points of view and give them the tools to be more perceptive as well. Being perceptive helps to understand patients better and allows you to provide the best treatment plans possible to fit each individual.
Building a Successful Career
Not all roles or practices are the best fit for every single psychiatrist. There is a diverse range of roles within the field, and you won’t click with all patients. This is okay! As long as you have the overall skills that make a great psychiatrist, a good fit is inevitable. Knowing how to find the right psychiatry physician jobs that meet your skill set is one of the most important steps to building a great career. It’s also important to know how to identify when a job description is a great fit.
Conclusion
Psychiatrists require specific skills and traits that make patient care better. Since patients are relying on you to help provide them with the tools to manage their mental health better, you’ll need to be understanding, perceptive, and communicative to help them. Being well-read in other cultures and the world of psychology can help you treat a wider variety of patients and conditions. This is the key to building a solid, successful career as a psychiatrist.
