On the Making of a Psychiatrist
After 2 years of psychiatry residency, I can say that I am not the same person I was last year, or for that matter even 6 months ago. The biographical facts about my life are the same. I was born in Los Angeles. I was raised by immigrant parents from El Salvador. I am an older brother to two sisters, and I am also a father to a daughter whom my partner and I are raising. I attended UCLA for college and medical school.
But much has changed in my life since starting residency, on both personal and professional levels. In moving to Albuquerque for psychiatric training, I have created new friendships and identified new mentors. I have learned about the treatment of acute and chronic psychiatric conditions. Listening to patients share their stories, often laden with trauma and tears, has been humbling and inspiring. This past year, while I was on my geriatric psychiatry rotation, my grandmother passed away at 92 years of age due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. Through understanding my grandmother’s hospitalization and death, I was better able to provide care for my patients with dementia.
With the greater psychiatric knowledge base I have attained, my responsibilities have increased and my priorities have shifted. With all these changes in mind, I reflect on what inspired me to pursue psychiatry in the first place and how I continue to nurture that aspect in myself and in others. One of the ways I have done that is by serving on the editorial board of the Residents’ Journal, which has offered me the pleasure of reviewing interesting and clinically relevant articles submitted by trainees across the country. Editing has allowed me to stay engaged and provide mentorship for other aspiring physician writers. Collaborating with fellow psychiatric colleagues at institutions other than my own has enriched my training, as I have learned from a collective of different experiences. This past year, I also contributed a piece about the mental health of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, a topic that is not currently well understood, yet is becoming increasingly salient in psychiatric practice.
As my life continues to unfold, I more clearly realize I am on a journey in which change and evolution guide the perpetual process of "becoming." As I enter my third residency year, one in which I will shift my focus to outpatient psychiatry, psychotherapy, and supervising new interns, I am excited to also continue as a deputy editor for the Residents’ Journal. Through engagement and collaboration with trainees in the psychiatric community, I aspire to stay on the cutting edge of the psychiatric literature. As I progress through my training, I look forward to finally becoming a psychiatrist, at which point I will surely ponder and write about yet another cycle of change and evolution.
