Several studies were conducted in an attempt to determine the factors that guide medical students’ specialty choice. The main factors studied include style and quality of life, financial rewards, social prestige, as well as personality characteristics and psychological profiles. Besides these factors, the choice of psychiatry as a specialty is motivated by aspects that include: quality of education in the area during medical graduation, interest even before entering graduation, intellectual challenge, importance of doctor-patient relationship, integration opportunity with other areas, and experience from personal or family experiences of psychological and/or psychiatric problems. Regarding the presence of psychiatric disorders among physicians, it is know that the suicide rate in these professionals is higher than in the general population. Nevertheless, there are few studies that have tried to explore the associated risk factors. Considering the medical specialties, psychiatrists have high rates of suicide when compared with doctors in other specialties, which points to the need for a careful look at this population.