The fate of psychiatry as a career

The desirability of psychiatry as a profession, and its position in the hierarchy of specialties, does not change. Starting from the recruitment of students into psychiatry (CT1), many potential applicants are put off by the stigma and negative attitudes attached to mental illness. The negative perception of psychiatry is further compounded by the opinion of those in other specialties towards psychiatry.

Proposed workforce impact

• Low numbers of applicants into psychiatry
• Decreased competition between applicants, leading to a decline in the reputation of psychiatry
• Shortage of academic psychiatrists
• Increased demand for quantity and quality of psychiatry training and services

Sources or references

• Byrne, (2001), Psychiatric stigma, The British J Psychiatry, 178: 281-284
• Jaques, (2011), A third of psychiatry core training posts are vacant after round one of specialty recruitment, BMJ Careers

Additional research questions

• What is currently being done to encourage medical students to choose psychiatry as their career pathway?
• How is the relative status of psychiatry as a specialty being addressed across the medical profession?

Some of the information in this section is provided by stakeholders and expert groups, and does not necessarily represent the views of the CfWI.