Edit: thanks for all the replies!
In: Other
Psychiatrist are medical doctors that can prescribe drugs while psychologist can’t.
Councelors are failed psychologist.
Psychiatrists are medical doctors who’ve graduated from medical school and are able to prescribe medicine.
Psychologists have graduated from a PhD program and cannot prescribe medicine but have much more extensive training in diagnosis and therapy than Psychiatrists. Psychologists can also graduate as a PsyD which is not as rigorous as a PhD.
Counselors are graduates of Masters programs which are less rigorous and require less time than PhD programs.
Sometimes a counselor is the best fit for a person’s needs even though they have less training than doctors or psychologists.
Psychiatrists are medical doctors, psychologists are not. Psychiatrists prescribe medication, psychologists can’t. Psychiatrists diagnose illness, manage treatment and provide a range of therapies for complex and serious mental illness. Psychologists focus on providing psychotherapy (talk therapy) to help patients.
I think the difference between psychologist and counsellor will vary depending on what country you live in.
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Simple tip to differentiate them: the psychiatrist prescribes medications, the psychologist does not prescribe medications and the counselor is just a person who gives you a little advice without having an academic degree in the subject. All three relate to psychology.
In the UK from what I know, a psychiatrist is someone who completed a medical degree etc. to become a doctor, then specialised in psychiatry. Psychiatrists can prescribe medication as well as provide therapy. Clinical psychologists complete a psychology degree, then a doctorate in clinical psychology to become a clinical psychologist. Clinical psychologists focus more on mental health issues and helping people experiencing them. Clinical psychologists cannot prescribe medicine, but do provide therapy. There are also other psychologists that may have a degree in another subject (as well as a different psychology related degree, and possibly a conversion course) such as education, and focus on/work in that area. Counsellors instead complete university level courses for counselling. Counsellors, as you can guess by the name, provide counselling, which can come in different forms with different therapies. All have more hands on training before being allowed to practice on their own as far as I’m aware. (If anything was wrong/badly worded, feel free to correct me as this was just off the top of my head)
All very similar but very different, depending on how you look at it.
During college I remember seeing a flyer that said if you are satisfied when you graduate with Bachelor’s in Psychology you should be prepared to be asking “Would you like whip cream on that?” which absolutely terrified me.
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Just to add a bit, in some USA States psychologists can now prescribe medication. it’s a low number of States, but the industry has been pushing for it for decades.
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