Not As A Patient

 I earned my Bachelor's degree in psychology a couple months ago. During college, I went to a psychiatric hospital weekly for a semester and saw patients and studied their diagnoses and cases, as part of my school work. Also, last week I attended a workshop at the same psychiatric hospital - I got to see more patients, hear their stories and discussion on their cases and diagnoses after. I must say I don't quite like the atmosphere - believe it or not, the hospital workshop was a lot more academic, colder, and less interactive than my training workshops (which are basically postgraduate level coursework in order to become a therapist). I do think I'll participate in more workshops there, though, because I find it very useful to meet people and hear their stories, plus the discussions about diagnosis seem to be an important part of what a therapist should understand. I even considered getting a volunteer job there if I don't get admitted into a Master's program - though I'm not sure if I could stand all the psychiatrists ... some can be less than ethical and concerned about their patients.