So I’m actively looking to get into some form of much needed therapy for myself. I’ve come across a directory for local therapists in my area, but there’s Therapists, Counselors, Psychologists, and Clinical Social Workers, to name a few.. What’s the difference?
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so from what i know: psychology is a field of study. you might become a psychologist and then do research in ie human behavior.
you might also do additional training to practice psychotherapy and become a therapist. in my country, even people who study neurology are eligible to do training to become a therapist. as a practicing therapist, you work directly with patients, may be at a doctors office or at a general clinic.
at a clinic there might be multiple different people working. head doctor who might have studied medicine, psychologists who act as therapists and do sessions with patients and social workers who are around the patients 24/7 ish, making sure everything is alright, keeping order and safety, some might even have to cook food or do some cleaning. they usually have some work training and dont need a specific degree
counselors sounds very unspecific to me, idk, might have some psychology degree probably
Speaking for the USA only,
Psychologists= ph.d. or psy.d. its a protected term. You have a doctorate and are licensed. They are who someone would see If your kid has suspected autism or adhd for example. They give an evaluation, battery of tests. And interpret those tests.
I’ve heard generalizations before that imo aren’t great. That clinical psych focuses on severe pathology. They tend to do much less therapy and engage in much more research. I don’t think those quite summarize the key differences.
Therapist is an umbrella term for a person administering a therapy.
Counselor would generally refer to someone who has a degree in counseling and licensure. But there are also guidance counselors and peer counselors.
These last two you could see for a wide range of problems. Marriage/family. Mental illness. Career/vocational guidance. Generally speaking these are the individuals you see weekly/every two weeks in an office.
It depends on your location. Many countries require people to have specific qualifications before they can use certain professional titles. For example, in the UK, this applies to “psychiatrist”, “clinical psychologist”, “arts therapist”, and “occupational therapist”, but not “counsellor”, “therapist”, “psychotherapist”, or “psychologist”. This doesn’t mean that the former group of professionals are *better*: it just means that there are some minimum standards they are required to meet, whereas basically anyone is allowed to sell services as a “therapist”. But professional titles like this often mean drastically different things in different countries.
Beyond that, there are often professional organisations that represent therapists and the like. They hand out “accredited by …” badges to anyone who meets certain requirements. Some of these professional organisations have high standards and are considered trustworthy; others are not.
Your healthcare service may provide advice about how to find a good counsellor, and there are often trusted mental health charities that provide advice about this kind of thing too. If there is a well-known, highly regarded mental health charity in your country, try looking at their website.
A counselor will likely be the right person to talk to. A counselor works with short-term problems, or they help do initial assessments and can recommend the right type professional. Think of them like the general practice doctor of mental health.
A clinical psychologist generally does *therapy*, helping with general mental health.
A psychiatrist generally deals with the medical side of mental health and is able to prescribe medication. If you think you need medication, you should find a psychiatrist.
A social worker would help you work on specific issues (like addiction) which are impacting your ability to function within your community/employment/family.
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