Psychiatrist vs Psychologist - Difference and Comparison

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	Psychiatrist	Psychologist
Education:	Psychiatrists are physicians or MDs who have completed at least four years of post graduate training. They are the only mental health specialists licensed to prescribe drugs and to give full physical examinations.	Psychologists have PhDs in clinical or counseling or the equivalent and have more training in psychological research and personality assessment than MDs.
Type of work:	The medical training of psychiatrists qualifies them for administering somatic therapies such electro-convulsive therapy and psychotropic medication.	Psychologists work in some 40 different specialties. They may be experimenters studying rats in mazes or electrical impulses in nerve cells or environmental psychologists observing people in crowded cities.
Method of Treatment:	Treat variety of patients, from children and adolescents with behavior disorders to adults with severe cases of mental illness and prescribe medications.	Treat emotional and mental suffering in patients with behavioral intervention. They conduct psychological testing such as counseling, hypnosis which is critical in assessing a person's mental state and determine the most effective course

1 Education
- 1.1 Study
2 Nature of treatment
3 Humane work
4 See Also
5 References

[edit] Education

Psychiatrists are physicians or MDs who have completed at least four years of post graduate training. They are the only mental health specialists licensed to prescribe drugs and to give full physical examinations. Psychologists have PhDs in clinical or counseling or the equivalent and have more training in psychological research and personality assessment than MDs.

[edit] Study

There are some natural overlaps between a psychologist’s work and a psychiatrist’s work. Psychologists study the mind that includes the study of disturbed mind, and even a sick mind or psychopathology. Psychiatrists also study psychopathology.
Both psychologists and psychiatrists deal with people who have problems. The problem of the client is the same for both psychologists and psychiatrists, only the dealings are different. The psychologist will work with the mind and use psychological means such as counseling, hypnosis, psychotherapy, relaxation, etc. Psychiatrists treat the body and will mostly prescribe drugs.

[edit] Nature of treatment

Psychologists and psychiatrists often work together for the well-being of the client as their job descriptions overlap. However, there are some crucial differences between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. The biggest difference between the two mental health professionals is the nature of treatment.

A Psychologist studies such things as intelligence, motivation, emotions, learning and other aspects of the mind. Their Psychological research is typically done in lab conditions, studying two groups of subjects which are typically presented with a specific task under specific circumstances. They then measure the subjects' reaction, or performance. He uses statistical analysis to find correlations between some kind of stimulus or condition and some kind of reaction or result.

A Psychiatrist’s goal is to study and cure mental diseases. Psychiatrists are not interested in the way the mind works rather they are interested in finding the underlying physiological problem, the chemical imbalance in the brain and things like that.

While psychiatrist's can prescribe medicines, psychologists cannot.

[edit] Humane work

The fields of psychology and psychiatry are both essential in researching and developing treatment for improving mental and emotional health. Other than the differences, psychologists and psychiatrists share a common goal and that is helping people feel better.