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What is the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist?

Date Published: Jan 04 2012

  • Your individual situation and needs will help determine which professional is right for you.
     Your individual situation and needs will help determine which professional is right for you.

[Editor's note: Based on reader feedback concerning some of the information this article contains, this article will be amended with updated information in the near future. Please check back for the updated version and leave your comments below.]

If you or a family member have never needed to undergo treatment for mental health issues, you may not completely understand what distinguishes a psychologist from a psychiatrist. In the simplest terms, a psychiatrist has the authority to prescribe chemical treatments or medication to patients, while a psychologist can only apply behavioral treatments.

To become a psychiatrist, one would have to attend medical school and hold a medical degree. To earn this degree, an individual would have to specialize in the field of psychiatry while also completing general training requirements for the medical school program. A psychiatrist is required to be officially licensed by federal and state authorities before he or she can prescribe medicine.

Alternatively, a psychologists may hold a Ph.D., which indicates that they've qualified as a doctor of philosophy. This degree focuses largely on research and gaining experience through clinical internships. A psychologist does not have a license to prescribe medicine to patients, but is highly qualified for applying treatment through psychotherapy and other similar measures.

Determining which is best for you will depend on your current ailment, as well as the severity of the problem. Serious mental complications, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or severe anxiety are often effectively treated with a combination of medication and therapy, which may make these types of ailments better-suited for treatment by a psychiatrist. Less severe circumstances, such as coping with a new job- or relationship-based stress, may be a better fit for a psychologist.

Since it can be difficult to determine the severity of your ailment, you can also decide for yourself how you want to approach your treatment. Would you rather take medication to treat the problem or try talking it out and seeking counsel to resolve the problem without medication? It all depends on what you are most comfortable with and which treatment works best for your unique needs.

In many cases, it is usually ideal to consult your family doctor about the trouble you have been experiencing to see what he or she would recommend. If you are hesitant about the process, starting with a psychologist might be the best approach since this form has the least medical risks and can often be less expensive. In the event that psychological treatment doesn't solve the problem, your psychologist may be able to recommend a different course of treatment.

Health consumers in Central Indiana can review other patients' experiences with Indianapolis psychologists and Indianapolis psychiatrists on Angie's List.

Comments

Submitted by dr. david oconnell on Fri, 2012-05-18 17:10
Psychologists in New Mexico,Louisiana,Guam and in the military and Indian Health service can prescribe psychotropic medications if they have completed the post doctoral training that is necessary for this service.

Submitted by Dianne Lobes, E... on Fri, 2012-05-18 19:24
I am both a psychologist and a licensed professional counselor for 30 years. I think you should stress that, nowadays, psychiatrists ONLY prescribe medications that research has shown do not work to cure or relieve mental problems (see Anatomy of an Epidemic, by Robert Whitaker - if meds are supposed to HELP, why are the numbers for mental illness continually going up in direct proportion to the rapidly increasing number of prescriptions?). In fact, these meds often make the condition WORSE, much worse. Research shows that only about 20% of people receive any help from psychotropic meds WITHOUT any serious side effects, which include death and permanent, irreversible maiming. I have helped many clients get completely off meds, some of whom have been on them for years or decades; they, to a person, feel much, much better and thank me continuously for telling them what no one else woud (because I have studied this for years) and for helping them when no one else could. Psychiatrists, with only rare exceptions, DO NOT COUNSEL their patients - they see them briefly for med checks only. Psychologists and counselors work with their clients for at least 50 minutes per session, sometimes longer, to understand and help them relieve and recover from any number of mental conditions. There are psychologists who now can prescribe psychotropic meds in some states, with special training and licensure. I am not one of them, because I know that psychotropic meds are a terrible scam concocted among psychiatrists who were losing business in the 1980s to less expensive and more effective therapists, prior to the injection of the "wonder drug" (not) Prozac; drug companies who make billions of profit getting folks to believe they must take these drugs "for the rest of their lives" (also not true); the AMA; academic, "expert" doctors who make hundreds of thousands of dollars of extra income each flogging these dangerous drugs to their colleagues, who tend to believe them; and, last but not least, the media who is always up for a dramatic "wonder drug" headline, truthful or not. I hope that you check this out and tell your members the whole truth about the difference, and about the danger of prescription psychotropic medications.

Submitted by Brad on Wed, 2012-05-23 08:45
Yes, the information above is off the mark. Psychologists by law must hold a doctorate degree including a year-long clinical internship and another year of supervised clinical training. This training is often as long and rigorous as in psychiatry, but typically focuses much more intensively on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental and behavioral health problems than psychiatry, which tends to focus much more heavily on basic medicine and pharmacological (medication) treatments. Psychology graduate students in "clinical science model" Ph.D. graduate programs also receive very intensive training in research methodology, making them also among the best equipped to interpret the psychological literature. Many psychologists work with very severe mental illness (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia), and complicated cases (multiple mental disorders, abuse and trauma, etc). Psychologists have developed some of the most effective interventions for severe mental illness (for instance, DBT for borderline personality disorder). Furthermore, some disorders (anxiety, depression) respond as well if not better to psychotherapy than to medication, and most of these therapies are brief (10-20 sessions) and have low risk of any side effects. These facts are particularly well-established for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which has very strong scientific support. Many psychologists work closely with medical professionals to provide combined psychotherapeutic and pharmacological (medication) treatments. Doctoral-level psychologists are better trained to both administer and interpret psychological tests and assessments than virtually any other professional. Good psychologists adhere to evidence-based practices. However, the field (including the American Psychological Association) needs better oversight and quality control here, and much popular psychology and psychotherapy one can find on the bookstore bookshelves has no evidence base and has not been peer-reviewed by clinical scientists. Psychologists who DO use evidence-based practices can be found online at ABCT. ABCT is a professional clinical science organization that also provides information on evidence-based therapies for various disorders. Some psychologists in a few states receive additional training to prescribe medications. However, many other psychologists would prefer instead to focus on assessment, diagnosis, and behavioral interventions, and work with other professionals (nurses, physicians, social workers, etc.) in a team-based approach, so each person can bring their particular realm of expertise to the table in service of the client.

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