Possibly a silly question!

JimmyR

Whats the difference between a Psychologist, counsellor and and a pyschiatriast?

and why would one be reffered to one before the other?

JuliusCaesar

Not silly at all! Lots of people don't know the difference.

There's some information in our sticky here but Google does a lot of this kind of work so here's one site they came up with.

In short, a Psychiatrist is a medical doctor who has done extra training (significant extra training!) and specialises in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. They will often prescribe medication, but they also generally have training in a psychotherapeutic approch.

A psychologist has generally done both an undergraduate and post-graduate degree in psychology. They will have studied both normal and abnormal processes. They specialise in different areas of psychology, whether Educational, Clinical, Counselling, Occupational, Sports etc etc etc.

What is a counsellor? Thank heaven for Australia, they get to put a lot of mental health stuff on the web!

There's generally quite a bit of overlap between the various mental health professionals. For example, in the HSE, most of us work in teams made up of psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses, psychiatric social workers, psychiatric occupational therapists and so on. Most of them will have had training in counselling/psychotherapy on top of their professional qualification.

FarmerGreen

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JuliusCaesar

FarmerGreen wrote: »

Psychriatrists are for, well, people have gone or happened to be, well, insane and a threat to society, best avoided. Especialy for members of the armed forces who are beyond that kind of help.

:eek:

Seriously, if you are ever referred to the HSE Mental Health Services, you'll usually be assessed by a psychiatrist and then referred to the most suitable member of the team for treatment - they may also prescribe medication. They are not to be feared!

TrollHammaren

FarmerGreen wrote: »

Psychriatrists are for, well, people have gone or happened to be, well, insane and a threat to society, best avoided. Especialy for members of the armed forces who are beyond that kind of help.

Where are you getting this from? I had to see a psychiatrist to determine whether medication would be the best treatment for my ADHD, not because I was a serial murderer/rapist/Jedward fan.

Cathquig

you can see psychiatrists do deal with anything from panic attacks to serious psychosis. They're not to be feared anymore than you'd fear going to the GP to see if you needed an antibiotic or not.
Alas, they can't cure Jedwardism yet. The most they can do is manage the symptoms by fixing the quiff and teaching to say someting other than "OMG!" :P

willietherock

What is a psychotherapist and what differentiates them from Psychologist, counsellor and and a pyschiatriast?