Calling a psychiatrist a shrink came about from a comparison between psychiatrists and headshrinkers - a term give to tribal members from way back in the day who shrunk the heads of their enemies after they killed them. So, I guess you could say it is a derogatory term to use when referencing psychiatrists - implying that they "screw with your head". The term is noted by some to date back to the 1960's, while others say the term originated in the 1950's.


Other facts about psychiatrists you don't need to know:

- Psychiatrists used to be called alienists
- Freudian theories were the basis for psychiatric thinking for a long time.
- There are actually Anti-Psychiatry organizations out there. Several of them.
- 31% of psychiatrists that are members of the APA are women.
- According to this survery the average pay for a psychiatrist in 2002 was over 163,000 dollars.
- According to this one it was a little over 150,000 dollars in 2004.
- In 2002, the AMA estimated that there were 38,900 psychiatrists in the United States, with 40 percent of those being age 55 or older.
- According to Kurt Mosley of Merritt Hawkins, when the economy gets bad, the demand for psychiatrists increases.
- Psychiatrists in California, Louisiana, Minnesota, Idaho and New Jersey are the most well paid.