What are some internships for someone interested in psychiatry?

You might consider getting a research internship in one of the many fields that relate to psychiatry. Many research labs in universities are in need of interns to help coordinate studies and manage data. Advances in psychiatry depend on research across many fields - neuroscience, developmental psychology, clinical psychology etc. So you could participate in any lab doing research in these areas. Good medical practitioners in psychiatry make informed treatment decisions based on current research. I learned a lot about the field, even when I was doing simple tasks such as helping recruit research participants or doing data entry. I also got to do a lot of fun things, like scan my brain in an fMRI machine!

How do you get one of these internships? Take a look at your local university and look for labs in the departments of psychology or, if there's a medical school, take a look at psychiatry labs. You can email the professors or the lab managers and ask if they need any interns to help with the studies. You'll want to express your interest in psychiatry and show enthusiasm for the field. Most of the internships will go to college students, but if you express sincere enthusiasm you might get some nice responses. Check out labs at Stanford, Berkeley, and UCSF.

You might also look into pharmaceutical companies. I did an internship at Novartis and I got to study the effects of antidepressants on rats.

Another thing you could try is to sign up for research studies. Look for any psychology studies focused on adolescents. I participated in a lot of experiments and it gave me a great insight into the field. I also got paid for it!

There are many other paths as well, such as interning at local hospitals and helping patients directly. I have less personal experience in that path, however.