Is becoming a licensed Psychologist with a PHD useless?

Question

Why not just go to medical school, and become a psychiatrist?

Answer 1

No it's not useless. Med school is twice as long and hard.  Most of the clinics in my area have Psychologists...you see them first and the only way they refer you to a Psychiatrist is if they think you need meds.  

Answer 2

You need to become a psychologist. A psychiatrist does not do therapy or counselling, that's a psychologists job.  

Answer 3

That is what I would do.  You can do more with a MD degree.

Answer 4

First---- Med School is NOT twice as long and hard.  Medical School is 4 years and 2-6 years for residency.  Acceptance for Medical School is about 15%-20% of applicants.

PhD in Pyschology is 5-8 years in school, with internship and then a couple years of supervision.  Additionally, LESS THAN 10% of people get into PhD programs in Clinical Psych.  The acceptance rate is LESS than that of medical school.

It is MUCH HARDER to get into a PhD program.

Why a PhD instead of MD?

Today, most MDs because of $$ are forced to only do medication management.  This means 10-15 minutes with patients.  They don't get to develop a relationship with a patient.  If they want to do therapy, they will not make any money.  The cost of paying back loan, the cost of insurance, etc will kill you.

Answer 5

Or go to nursing school...in some states nurses with advanced practice degrees can even prescribe medications. There are always many job opportunities for psychiatric nurses, from what I hear there aren't as many job options for psychology majors.