In Women in Psychiatry, 21 accomplished women psychiatrists in private practice, teaching institutions, hospitals, public health treatment programs, and leadership positions reveal both the challenges and rewards of being in a wide array of professional positions. The stories are heartfelt and personal as well as professional accounts of obstacles overcome and milestones achieved. In a field once completely dominated by men, nearly one-third of physicians who identified themselves as practicing psychiatry in the U.S. were women, and the diversity of their approaches to the practice of psychiatry is encouragingly illustrated in this book.

Women in Psychiatry clearly demonstrates where an interest in science or medicine can lead when combined with determination, guidance, experience, mentoring, perseverance, and organizational support. The featured women represent diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, positions, career pathways, and accomplishments. All the authors share lessons learned and provide recommendations on what they found helpful in achieving their goals of personal and professional fulfillment. These chapters present many common themes among women professionals both within and outside of psychiatry, including handling pregnancy and motherhood while building a career, the potential strain between women and men in the field, and some of the income and leadership role inequities that still exist. Features and benefits of Women in Psychiatry include: - Insights into career paths through descriptions of pivotal events and decisions that shaped their careers as scientists.- Perspectives and advice on how to balance personal and professional responsibilities, both in training and in practice.- Illustrations of the role played by cultural and linguistic background, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, subspecialty, place of employment, and work setting.- The importance of mentorship throughout the process, first as a recipient and ultimately as a mentor to other women entering the field.- Strategies these authors used to accomplish goals and the various styles of leadership that helped them reach those goals.- The historical context for understanding that until recent decades, despite irrefutable evidence that women in the biomedical professions are capable, there were few in most fields with the exception of nursing, dental hygiene, and elementary science teaching.

Women in Psychiatry is the ideal book for women who are considering a career in psychiatry or other areas of medicine. It is also a book for partners and spouses of women in medicine and psychiatry. It is an inspirational and educational document that women and men, whether in medicine or other, nonrelated careers, can value and appreciate through the recounting of personal and professional experiences that made a difference.

Collected in a single volume for the first time, the writings in this novel anthology represent more than four decades of perspectives from the American Psychiatric Association's Solomon Carter Fuller Award lectures, named for the first Black psychiatrist in the United States. The chapter authors—Solomon Carter Fuller awardees themselves, psychiatrists building on the work of previous awardees, and other scholar experts—offer a multidisciplinary, cross-sectional examination of both the historical and contemporary environments that inform the Black experience in the United States. These treatises look at the intersection of mental health with topics that include the following: • Public health and public policy • Health care inequities • Racism • Economic well-being • Media • Education Emphasizing the real challenges that Black communities have faced and continue to face, each chapter also offers reasons for perseverance in the face of adversity. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the complexity of the Black experience in America and its impact on mental health, as well as a greater awareness of and appreciation for the legacy and ongoing contributions of Black psychiatric leaders to the field.