If anyone can help, what are the pros and cons of psychology & psychiatry? Lifestyle, nature of work, knowledge base, remuneration & work-life balance etc.
I can't really provide detailed information on the psychiatry side of things, as I'm only 3 years into a med degree, but I have ~10 years experience as a post grad psych student and then a clinical psychologist, so the following information is from that perspective.
Pros of Clinical Psychology
Super varied scope of practice (education, health, government and policy, rehab, child and adolescent, family <-- HUGE scope for this due to shortage of practitioners and a population crying out for help, older adults, hospital-based, private practice, assessment and diagnosis, specialist services like eating disorders, ASD, ADHD, sexual health, acute inpatients, alcohol and drug, trauma, migrant/refugee health, functional neurological disorders, chronic health)
Very fair renumeration (private practice in particular can be quite lucrative, I work in the public sector and my wage is well above the community average for where I live. On the first page of this thread, I remember posting links regarding renumeration for psychologists)
Very flexible work opportunities (at one point I was working across three areas at my own choosing to get exposure to a huge range of presentations.
Great for work/life balance (at another point I was working 4 days a week by choice and was still financially very comfortable).
Huge scope for research (psychologists are looked upon
very favourably by research teams due to our extensive experience relative to other allied health and even medical training pathways).
Access to medicare rebates (extended this year to 20 sessions per Mental Health Care Plan)
Cons of Clinical Psychology
I'd imagine these are VERY individualised. For example, private practice holds NO appeal for me whatsoever, whereas others would want to do nothing else.
Very occasional difficulties being taken seriously as a professional. This happens so rarely in my experience, now. And it's not so much about being thought of as a quack science, but more being dismissed generally/vaguely. And like I said, this is so rarely the case anymore, but does pop up every now and then.
For the
Psychiatry side of things, I recommend the following link: http://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=592422288299180&ref=watch_permalink