Psych: Careers in Psychiatry

What do psychiatrists do?*

• Assessing patient’s mental and physical status to determine the nature and extent of mental, emotional and behavioural disorders;
• Assessing patients’ medical, psychiatric and psychological histories;
• Examining patients to determine general physical condition;
• Ordering laboratory tests, imaging, neuropsychological tests and other diagnostic procedures;
• Examining the results of tests and examinations to determine the most appropriate forms of treatment;
• Prescribing and administering medication, psychotherapy, and other physical treatments and rehabilitation programs;
• Arranging admission to hospitals and providing in‑patient treatment;
• Consulting, supervising and working with other Medical Practitioners and Health Professionals;
• Determining whether patients require involuntary treatment in accordance with relevant mental health acts;
• Assisting courts and other statutory bodies in managing patients in legal and forensic settings; and
• Teaching medical students and registrars, and assessing their progress by administering tests.

*Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

Psychiatry subspecialities

Addiction psychiatry: deals with overcoming many forms of physical and psychological addiction, such as drugs, alcohol, or psychological addiction to sex or gambling.

Adult psychiatry: includes the treatment of conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, personality disorder and a range of anxiety disorders.

Child and adolescent psychiatry: focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of behavioral, psychological, and social disorders in children and adolescents.

Consultation-liaison psychiatry: specialises in the interface between medicine and psychiatry, usually taking place in a hospital or medical setting.

Forensic psychiatry: concerns the assessment and treatment of mentally disordered offenders, both in custodial and community settings, and assess risk of violence and re-offending.

Psychiatry of old age: includes areas such as epidemiology of late-life mental disorders, biopsychosocial aspects of ageing, and general medical problems common in older people.

Psychotherapy: explores connected meaning and motivation which underpins feelings, thoughts and behaviour to help understand complex human nature.

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