The training of psychiatrists offers building stones to let the exertion of the profession later on match their individual possibilities and preferences. The current organisation of psychiatric care offers opportunities to realise this. A threat to the professional development is the often very limited opportunity for psychiatrists to treat patients themselves for a longer period of time. In private practice this is still possible. Recommended is a combination of holding a job in a big institution for mental health and a part-time private practice. A greater involvement of psychiatrists as a group is insisted upon with regard to the development of mental health policy and the use of psychiatry in the face of social problems, e.g. when it concerns the meaning of mental illness with respect to safety and ability to work.