Do You Need a Psychologist or a Psychiatrist?

Do you need a Psychiatrist or a Psychologist ? The answer to that questions lies in who you are and what it is you are seeking to accomplish. Let's examine the difference between the two professionals, both of whom work to help the world get a better understanding how humans behave and interact with each other. To an outsider, someone not really needing or seeking the assistance of either the Psychiatrist or Psychologist the main visible difference is the amount of training one has compared to the other. Both take basically the same undergraduate pre-medical studies when in university.

The Psychiatrist goes to medical school after the undergraduate studies, and is required to perform a period of residency in psychiatry in a hospital. It is during the residency that the Psychiatrist usually tends toward one area of specialty or the other. After completing the residency the Psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can prescribe drugs and conduct specialized treatments that affect the behavior of individual patients.

The Psychologist does not go on to medical school after undergraduate studies but works toward completing a doctorate degree, in most cases. Usually while working towards the doctorate degree the Psychologist will decide what type of Psychologist they want to become. There are quite a few types of Psychologist ; child Psychologist , research Psychologist , clinical Psychologist and others. Some Psychologist s get special training so that they can treat patients but they can not legally prescribe drugs. The Psychologist that treats patients is called a clinical Psychologist .