Why choose a psychologist over a psychiatrist, or vice versa?
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Answers:
They both diagnose an illness. You should always see both though for effective treatment. A psychiatrist will more apt to run tests--physical and mental ones. They go by what you tell them is going on in your life and how you are feeling. They will both probably encourage you to get some blood work done to check your thyroid and sugar levels, to see if that is possibly a problem. Those cause you to be imbalanced majorly, so they will want to rule that out before going for the medicine. And yes, only a doctor/psychiatrist can order those tests.
Other Answers:
Psychiatrists can prescribe drugs
A psychiatrist can prescribe drugs, that's why people go to them.
Psychiatrists precribe drugs..That's probably the biggest difference.
Some psychologists can NOW prescribe scripts in certain states if they have extra training.
Most ppl with chronic mental health conditions usually see both kinds of docs.
Well the difference that makes the most between the two is the fact that psychiatrists can prescribe medication and psychologists can't.
So if your looking for treatment quickly you can go to a psychiatrist.
If your looking for someone to talk to who isn't too preoccupied with keeping Pfizer and GSK happy, a psychologist would be better.
Talking to you will not harm you. All medications have side effects. A year ago you could ask any MD or anyone on this site and they will tell you that the FDA has approved of Vioxx and it is safe. Yet it was killing people.
Say no to drugs! Here is page where guy was on 3 meds for depression and cured it with diet change. Then click on "a new religion" which fuses new religion with the new science of happiness from Positive Psychology.
The psychotropic drugs for depression like Prozac have only been approved of by FDA for 6 months and no longer but they have people on them for years. They used to shock people with electricity and cut out part of their brain.
I'm not sure about specific answers to this. I can only tell my story. I had an emotional breakdown last year that left me almost unable to cope. I thought I could handle it alone, but after about five months of trying, I decided to get help.
The mental health department of my HMO scheduled me with a psychologist. She did an evaluation and decided that I needed to be put on medication since my symptoms were so acute. She called in a psychiatrist who did an additional evaluation, and prescribed anti-depressants. That was the first and ONLY time I saw her.
My case was managed by the psychologist. I saw her a total of three times. By the way, I'm no longer seeing her and no longer on meds, and I feel fine.
My educated guess is that it might be the severity of a condition--whether emotional or physical--that would be a determining factor. For example, moderate cases of depression and OCD or even bi-polar could be managed by a psychologist.
I would think that severe cases, i.e., abuse, schizophrenia, MPD, etc. would require more monitoring by someone with a medical degree.
Just my 2c.
Psychiatrists often have no training at all in providing therapy. And many psychologists only do testing or work in research. (i.e. school psychologists provide testing to determine a child's eligibility for special education programs.) Therapy is more often provided by people who's degrees are in social work or a related field. It all depends on the training that the person has, and that can vary considerably.
It also depends on expertise in a certain area. My ex is a dissociative identity disorder and there's so very few who are trained to work with the diagnosis. Often becoming an expert in an area of mental health involves training unrelated to the degree the person earned. In which case, you ask about experience in working with a particular disorder. You may have to see a psychiatrist separately for medications and someone else for therapy or testing.
Psychiatrist have spiritually bankrupt perspective on life.emotional problems to them become purely physical ones. Instead of helping you understand how the soul impacts your feelings and physiology, they assume that drugs will somehow solve the problem. Without their pitifully inept DSM-IV, they wouldn't have a clue, and most of the time that silly books just gives them a rationale for prescribing, or worse, limiting your constitutional freedoms.
A Physiciatrist is a qualified doctor.
From what I have been told there is a very fine line between a social worker and a psychologist .
A Physciatrist will listen carefully to your problem and then determine if medicine is needed .
Sometimes it may just be the person needs to get a few things off their chest .
Sometimes just writing a letter to a person one feels has let them down in some way will clear things up beautifully, it doesn't have to be posted can be screwd up and burnt .
Some training that I went through a few years back this advice was given it works.
Most mental illness is due to life circumstances, not anything physical. A psychologist or counselor will talk with you a lot more than a psychiatrist. They will work through your problems with you and give you ways to improve yourself so that you can overcome your illness. A psychiatrist will talk with you only long enough to figure out what medication will help you the best. You might need medication to enable you to work out your problems at first, but with talk therapy you should be able to get off medication once you have a handle on life.
There is a huge difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist. A psychiatrist mainly deals with the medicine part of things (prescribing drugs), and the psychologist does basically the same job as a licensed counselor. (they are there to listen to your problems and help you on the therapy side of things). You usually don't need a psychiatrist unless you have a mental disability. And when I say mental disability, I mean any chemical imbalance of the mind ranging from Clinical Depression & Anxiety, Bipolar, to Scitzophrenia. Those types of things require medicine. Anybody and everybody could use a psychologist to talk to though for general therapy. Some people with mental disorders see both a psychiatrist and a psychologist.
most insurance companies prefer you to go to a psychologist first and if he feels the need he makes a referral to a psychiatrist
Funda is simple boss: (R: psychiatrist, L: Psychologist)
Whats Common in both? Both R and L identify the root cause and provide solution.
So whats the difference? L works on Mind, R on Brain
Identifying the root cause:
Normally diagnosis is quicker in R and slower in L who takes more sessions to draw a conslusion/treatment plan.
L - through detailed counselling and identifying emotional/mental factors.
R - not get bogged down with 'personal issues' but identify biological factors (normally quicker than L).
Treatment:
L - provides suggestions/steps to improve mental state directly
R - provides drugs to alter the state of brain to reach the desired mental state
Whom you choose, depends on depth of problem. I would recommend both. Start with R since he/she will improve your mental condition very quickly which equips you handle the coaching/treatment of L better. Withdrawal of medicines from R can be quicker as well.
(Disclaimer: I am not a doctor - these are only suggestions and get these validated by an expert)
I won't just state the obvious and what you already know that psychiatrists can perscribe medcine. I will give you a good reason.
Because a psychiatrist is a medical doctor he has studied mostly the medical aspect of psychology. Also he may feel compelled to diagnose you and give you medcine within the first week of seeing you because he does perscribe medcine. I belive that people should see psychologist first to be diagnosed with disorders and if therapy cannot treat it completely then the psychologist can seek help from either a general doctor or a psyciatrist. in fact I really don't see the need for a psychiatrist, a Clinical Psychologist knows much more about diagnosing people with disorders than a psychiatist. And once a psychologist diagnoses the patient can simply see a general doctor with a note from the psychologist about the diagnosis.
Usually you first go to a psychologist who will then refer you to a psychiatrist if you do indeed need drugs.
Most people will see one or the other, but then they get only half the treatment. Pharmacology gives people a false sense of security that it can solve anything except, in mental illnesses. Bipolar, schizophrenia, clinical depression, panic disorders cannot be cured and therefore only treated. Therapy can help these patients in combination with medication. Cognitive therapy, the one most commonly used, can teach patients how to cope with their disorder's symptoms and help them to stay away from behaviors and thoughts that lead to relapse. It;s really important to have a PhD. as part of a support system just in case things are rough.
I'm not sure what condition you're looking for treatment for, but I personally preferred having a psychiatrist as my therapist, just so I only had one doctor treating me. He did everything, therapy and medication. I found it was a lot easier. Of course the therapy was more expensive though.
I don't think that a psychiatrist is qualified to treat any mental disorders that a psychologist cannot, but their approaches might be different, i.e. the psychiatrist might tend to focus on medication, while the psychologist might tend to focus on the therapy aspects of treatment.
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