My chosen career, by Marylou

When I was eight years old, my General Practitioner asked me what job I wanted to do later and I answered: “I will be a doctor, just like you!”.

This idea of my future job has not left me, but my thoughts on it have evolved. If I want to be a doctor, it’s because I want to help people, to take care of them, to ease their pain...

My wish to become a psychiatrist came when I was fifteen years old, following my first work experience. My mother worked as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital and I had hoped to work with her. However, the hospital did not accept me because I was too young. That’s why I went to Toulouse and helped my uncle who is a liberal nurse. The majority of his patients were mentally ill, disabled, or senile. It was an amazing experience. From that moment on, I began to think seriously about mentally ill people.

What happens in the head of a mentally ill person? I want to find answers.

A programme on television about serial killers also, strangely, convinced me to enter psychiatric care... One has to be oneself mentally strong to do this job ! You can be faced with death or incurable diseases. Mentally ill people can also be physically ill (they often are). It is perhaps surprising, but people often only see the psychiatric disease and forget the rest. It is not easy to speak with someone who is, say, thirty years old and who has a child's behavior, or to know that you are speaking with someone who has already killed somebody... It can be frightening, it can be difficult, it can be impressive but it is also what makes the job particularly interesting.

Being a psychiatrist means that you must be serious, strong, respectful, tolerant and patient and that you must know how to listen to others. You must observe carefully people's behaviour, have empathy and not a sense of pity. It is important not to get too involved emotionally too.

Being a psychiatrist also means being a doctor, and when you are doctor you must have knowledge of medical and scientific progress. You need to be aware of the social and ethical aspects of the job, for example on the question of euthanasia. Euthanasia is banned in France because it is considered murder. It is a very controversial subject. From my point of view, the Government should accept euthanasia in certain contexts. When a person, who is totally disabled and disfigured by his or her disease, suffers and begs one to be left to die, is it right to refuse that wish ? I think not, but of course there are many negative aspects to euthanasia which I still need to think about...

Although attitudes have evolved over the years, psychiatry is still not universally accepted. There are still people who think that mental disorders are not diseases, that they are just a way for people to act different, it's a kind of fad. The equipment used in psychiatry is not the same as in other types of care. Of course you have also injections, bandages and things like that, but you also need a lot of security. The personel that work with mentally ill patients can easily get into dangerous situations, so precautions must be taken and it is not the case in all hospitals because psychiatry is not totally accepted. Being a psychiatrist also means fighting prejudice about your profession...

When people ask me what I want to do later, they are very surprised by my answer. They are in fact afraid of the mentally ill. Indeed, psychiatric disorder is still a taboo subject for many, and mental illness is not taken as seriously as, for example, diabeties. Psychiatry has evolved; care is now much better, and less reliant on drugs. It is becoming more accepted.

Psychiatrist is definitely my career choice.