title: What do general psychiatrists do? A question posed to medical students and the general population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Misconceptions about the role of a psychiatrist are anecdotally widespread but have been under researched.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to establish views on training and working in psychiatry amongst preclinical medical students at a South London Medical School and amongst a general public sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  A semi-structured online questionnaire was used to survey medical students, with a similar paper questionnaire being used to survey members of the public in a general practice waiting room using a convenience sampling method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Strikingly, the majority of the public thought that psychiatrists did not need a medical degree (54%) or postgraduate training (56%). There were significant misconceptions about treatments used in mental health, for example 16% of the public sample thought psychiatrists never use medication and 31% of medical students (and 14% of the public) thought psychiatrists never use electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). In response to "do you believe a psychiatrist is able to know what people are thinking?", 45% of students and 57% of the public answered "sometimes".
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results have important implications for public education, as lack of awareness about psychiatry may inhibit help seeking for mental illness, and have a negative impact on recruitment to psychiatry amongst medical students.
authors.affiliation: Population Health Sciences and Education, St George's, University of London , London , UK and.
authors.forename: Aileen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: G Alice
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Ashby
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Jordan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Crame
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011570:Psychiatry; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Medical education; public education; recruitment to psychiatry; stigma