I believe you have to be doctor or get a PhD. which means you are spending 8 to 10 years of your life in school. This is after your high school graduation and a bachelors degree.

You will need a B.S. or a B.A in something and a medical degree with a concentration in psychiatric. Psychiatrists can prescribe medications. If all you want to do is counsel children but not dispense medications, you may want a Masters degree in licensed mental health counseling, social work or something like that. It depends in which state you wish to practice. I would suggest you talk to a career counselor or guidance counselor as there are a lot of degrees out there, but it is a very specific field. The big issue is that you need the right degree to be third party reimbursable. Anyone can be a counselor, but insurance companies will only cover certain people with certain qualifications in certain settings. Good Luck!

If you want to become a child PSYCHIATRIST (meaning you would mainly prescribe medications and hospitalize patients) then you would need to get your M.D. (medical doctor) degree. Since it is an M.D, psychiatry is more clinical than therapeutic…you’d mostly be diagnosing and treating. If that is what you want to do, you would need to go to medical school and follow the same path as medical students (i.e. a bachelor’s in biology/pre-med; then 2 years of medical school; then 2 years of residency). During your residency, you would get your training specifically in psychiatry.

If you want to be a child PSYCHOLOGIST, then it is different. Psychologists do more therapy, talk therapy, play therapy, etc. and do family and group therapy. They cannot prescribe medication. For that, you would need to get a Ph . PhD program is 4 years towards a bachelor’s in psychology then 4 years of grad school (assuming you are going full time; thats 2 years toward a masters and 2 more toward a doctorate, including writing a thesis).

If that sounds like too much school for you, there are other options such as masters in psychology (4 years bachelors/2 years masters) or licensed clinical social work (4 years bachelors/2 years masters plus 2 years of supervision and completion of a State test). hope this helps! i know it’s alot but it’s worth it!!!

To become a child psychiatrist, this is what you need:

1. Go to college and complete a bachelor’s degree

2. Sit the MCATs and apply to medical school

3. Finish 4yrs of medical school

4. Following medical school, apply for general psychiatry residency (3yrs) in the US followed by application for child and adolescent psychiatry (2yrs)

I’m not aware of any direct-entry child and adolescent psychiatry positions, but things may have changed.

Well listen to this because i was going to go to school for psych. well first of all ..depending on your grades in high school you can choose from if you have good grades in high school you might just be able to go straight into a 4year college or U …But what i would do is ..when you get out of high school go to a community college take liberal arts or something in that catagory …because you def. need to take sciences and math ….then it will take you about 2years to get your associates degree ..and after you get your associates degree you want to transfer to a University! Then you usually take pre-medical studies …well thats for your doctorate degree im not sure about psych. ..that takes 4years ..then you go to a medical school …and that takes 4years …so all together its going to take about 8-11 years of schooling ..but its worth it in the long run. My cousin is in miami taking psych. so ..and she loves it ..so if thats your passion go for it sweetie! Good luck on life …and i hope you get accepted! Hope i helped a little!

I DONT KNOW.