- What does a psychologist do?
- The role of psychiatrists
- Main differences between a psychologist and a psychiatrist
Confusing the work of a psychologist and a psychiatrist is more common than you might believe This is mainly due to their field of action , since both work with people who have some type of psychological and/or emotional affectation, and through an approach and intervention plan they can give them the resolution they need to recover from their problem.
However, these two branches, although they have some similarities, actually cover different patient problems and their way of intervening is substantially different.
However, if you still cannot see their differences or do not know what each of these branches of mental he alth treats, then we invite you to stay in this article where we will talk about the most important differences. between a psychologist and a psychiatrist.
What does a psychologist do?
We will begin by explaining the work of a psychologist. In general terms, a psychologist is one who studies, analyzes and intervenes in human behavior in order to find a resolution and facilitate the adaptation of the person with his mind and with the outside. It should be noted that the psychologist can specialize in many different areas of psychology, since this science is very extensive, as is the case with social, school, organizational, criminalistic, sports psychologists, etc.
For the purposes of this article we will focus on clinical and he alth psychologists, who are more similar to psychiatrists.These clinical and he alth psychologists are in charge of the evaluation, diagnosis and intervention of patients with some type of trauma, affectation or mental disorder that affects their lives, in order to prevent its evolution or find adaptive ways to solve said problem.
The role of psychiatrists
On the other hand we have psychiatrists, who are actually mental he alth doctors and are in charge of diagnosing and addressing illnesses from their physiology, generally through pharmacological treatment and evolution sessions.
Although he has a close relationship with the patient and chat sessions are established with him to measure his improvement, he focuses more on restoring the correct biochemistry of neuronal function, restoring hormone levels released and compensate for the altered or damaged composition.
Main differences between a psychologist and a psychiatrist
Now that we have established and clarified the role of both the psychologist and the psychiatrist, we can focus on the main differences that serve to distinguish them.
one. Academic preparation
This is perhaps the most notable difference between the two experts in the field of mental he alth. Despite sharing similar knowledge of their field of development and dealing with people who present psychological, emotional and/or behavioral problems, psychiatrists must first study medicine and then specialize in psychiatryand do their residency in a hospital, therefore they are medical specialists in psychiatry.
For their part, psychologists do not need to be doctors to deal with patients with mental illnesses, but rather study psychology and then specialize in the area of clinical and/or he alth psychology, , where they can treat patients inside hospitals or have their own office.
So we can say that the career of a psychiatrist is much longer than that of clinical psychologists, since their training is deeper in terms of knowing the human mind from a biological point of view, physiological and neural functioning. For their part, psychologists, despite also knowing the biochemical functioning of the human mind, are trained with knowledge of the influence of sociocultural dynamics on people and their relationship with mental disorders, their training being more focused on understanding the behavior and the biopsychosocial causes of any emotional affectation.
2. Patient Approach
This is another very notable difference between the two specialists and it is about the approach they take when dealing with the patient and her problems. In this sense, a psychologist has a heterogeneous position, taking into account the interaction of the patient with his social environment, since he considers that mental disorders are not unrelated to the cultural context and the quality of interpersonal interactions that the patient has.In addition, you must know your situation thoroughly in order to establish an adaptive and functional intervention plan.
On the other hand, the psychiatrist's approach always tends to be more biologist, that is, it focuses on the imbalance and alterations that manifest themselves in the normal physiological and chemical functions of the patient and what is the best pharmacological treatment to address it. His ultimate goal is to reverse the damage that has been done to neural and hormonal interaction, regulate it, decrease it, or improve it. For psychiatrists, mental illnesses are almost exclusively due to these disorders and the interpersonal state of the patient is a consequence of this.
3. Types of approach
As to be expected from their different types of approach to the patient, both professionals have completely different types of approach, although not For this reason, it means that they cannot work together on certain occasions, when a patient needs both pharmacological intervention and an adaptive plan to be able to function normally in their environment.
In general, this collaboration occurs with patients with mild mental disorders or who have advanced enough in their psychiatric treatment and their chemical levels are regulated to be able to concentrate on psychological therapy.
However, more specifically, psychiatrists approach problems from a purely medical sense, that is, they are based on terms of normality and abnormality to catalog the emotional and mental alterations that the patient may present and its ultimate goal is to bring it to a state of balance and organic functionality.
While psychologists, for their part, assess the severity of the patient's problem according to their level of maladjustment in their development environment, taking into account that the greater the adaptive affectation, the greater the severity of the present disorder . For this reason, they focus on determining the origin of the pathology and what development factors of the individual and their social, work or family environment have affected their evolution.
4. Objectives to meet
The final objective pursued by a psychologist is to understand and analyze the mental processes, the affective state and the behavior of the patient, so that he can interpret it for himself and can thus face his problem through psychological intervention.
It is important that there is adequate feedback from the psychologist, because this makes the patient aware of her situation and can perceive the seriousness of her maladjustment and that it needs to be improved or regulated. In turn, it is necessary that there is a high level of commitment on the part of the patient, since otherwise, the intervention will not have favorable results.
For his part, the psychiatrist wants the person to understand that his condition is of a biological nature, that is, he has an alteration or imbalance in his organic functionality (of chemical or physiological origin).Therefore, to improve it is necessary to undergo a pharmacological treatment with which you must be able to adapt to lead a better life and adequate mental he alth.
5. Issues they address
As psychologists focus on the person's social environment and their interaction with their environment, the mental problems they treat are actually mild to moderate disorders. In this sense, reference is made to those mental illnesses that can be intervened through psychological treatment, for example, anxiety, depression, eating, sleep, personality, emotional, behavioral, child development disorders and others that are in their early stage of manifestation.
In case of dealing with diseases with more serious or advanced disorders, they will need multidisciplinary help from the area of psychiatry and other specializations according to the need and the particular condition of the patient.
While psychiatrists, due to their medical training and extensive knowledge of the neurochemistry of the human mind, can deal with more severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, psychotic etc In other words, disorders that can worsen without the person maintaining the corresponding pharmacological treatment.
6. Treatments
Why is pharmacological treatment important in psychiatric patients? The function of these medications is to regulate neurological and hormonal activity in the brain, so that the proper balance is established.
When there is an increase or decrease in the levels of hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain, it is when it gives rise to some of the mental disorders and emotional imbalance of people. Therefore, one of the effective interventions that alleviate the symptoms is through this type of treatment.
Psychologists, on the other hand, focus on providing treatments according to the needs of the patient There are those who specialize in a single approach (behavioral, cognitive, humanistic, psychodynamic, etc.) while there are others that have a multiple approach. In general, the treatment consists of an observation phase, an analysis phase and an intervention phase, where the psychologist becomes familiar with the patient's situation and the factors that can activate the symptoms.
Then, carry out an action plan which will make the patient able to face his problem in the office, and at the same time learn tools that can be useful in the future in his daily life, to avoid relapse into similar problems.
7. Intervention duration
As far as the consultation is concerned, for psychiatrists a session rarely exceeds 20 minutes, since it focuses on finding out the advance or retreat of the patient, so that you can make the pertinent changes and adjustments in the treatment, depending on the improvement and functionality that is observed in the patient.
Meanwhile, the psychologists' sessions are longer, between 45-60 minutes depending on the problem presented, and the intervention takes place in a minimum of 7 sessions until it lasts longer if necessary. Apart from evaluating the evolution or setback of the patient, what is sought is to delve deeply into the psychological and emotional conflict, to find its best resolution.