I'm still not loving psychiatry, but it's getting a little better than the first week. My actual preceptor is back from vacation, so that means that my classmate and I (plus two other PA students from another nearby school) get to see more patients and spend more time on the unit, which means that we feel more connected to the patients since we can follow them throughout the entirety of their stay.
The stories are still sad and I've decided that psychiatry is definitely not for me, but at least it's a little better. I was disappointed to learn, though, that my preceptor doesn't really do outpatient treatment much anymore - he does some pediatric psychiatry for a few hours a couple days per week, but it's in a different location and he said that students don't usually go with him to see that. Plus it sounds like it would be even more depressing than what we're seeing with a (primarily) adult and geriatric population!
So, even though almost all of the cases are sad, that doesn't mean they're not fascinating. Listening to people who are delusional can be pretty entertaining at times, and seeing some of the conditions we learn about in school - schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder, the mania aspect of bipolar disorder, etc. - is really interesting. The sad part is hearing the background stories behind depression/suicide attempts, or hearing how patients have gone undiagnosed or untreated because they don't have insurance or can't afford their medications. Mental health care is really difficult (and probably frustrating) for everyone involved - providers, nurses, and patients alike. I guess it can be rewarding when treatment works, but I still don't think I could ever see myself working in this field.
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