Career options in Mental Health

    11-Oct-2021
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Ranjan K Baruah
Contd from previous issue
Skills which are required include compassion, empathy, critical thinking, active listening, effective communi-cation, etc. Patience is a must as one needs to work in different situations which are very challenging. One must remember that as a mental health professional, one needs to examine people with mental health illnesses and help them to deal with their illness by various methods. The methods which may be used include medical, psychotherapeutic, psycho-social or as a com-bination of various methods depending upon the person.
There is a confusion regarding two designations in this field which are related with Psychiatrists and Psychologists. Both Psychiatrists and Psychologists will be studying the behavior patterns of the patients. The Psychiatrist will be conducting various tests and provide the diagnosis based on the symptoms. Psychiatrists are trained medical doctors and therefore they can prescribe medicines and Psychologists focus on therapy sessions or other counseling sessions for the patients. One must get admission into medical colleges to become a Psychiatrist and there are very few Psychiatrists in the country which brings more options for doctors who do their specialization in the field of mental health.
There would be more demand for mental health professionals as people are facing challenges due to different family issues and other similar issues which are affecting them negatively. Apart from joining Government or other areas one may be self employed and earn if they are qualified, trained, skilled and passionate to work in the field of mental health.
(Ranjan K Baruah is a career mentor and skill trainer and can be reached at 8473943734 or [email protected] for any career related queries)