Therapist vs Psychologist vs Psychiatrist: What’s the Difference?

Therapists which is also known as a psychotherapist, are licensed mental health specialists whose focus is on helping clients develop better cognitive and emotional skills, reducing symptoms of mental illness and coping mechanisms to be used with various life challenges to improve their lives.

Therapist helps their clients find their strengths and courage to confront and make sense of any of the difficult emotions and experiences they may have gone through and will go through, so they can learn to thrive. They offer support, positivity, compassion, guidance, accountability, a listening ear, and fair clinical advice that they know their client needs.

Therapists can work with clients either in person or online, to help with symptoms of their mental health. A list of common services that therapists offer their clients include:

• Listening
• Analyzing present problems
• Analyzing any influences from the past or the present
• Comforting clients
• Helping clients without any bias that a friend or family may have
• Diagnosing mental health conditions
• Reducing symptoms of a client’s mental health illness
• Helping clients to manage their own symptoms of mental illness
• Helping clients to change their maladaptive behaviors and thinking patterns
• Teaching emotional, cognitive, and communication skills
• Teach clients how to effectively resolve emotional, relational, and professional conflicts
• Guiding their clients through any breakdowns like breakups, abuse, suicidal thoughts, grief, infidelity, sexual assault and much more
• Teaching clients how they can improve their current relationships and build new ones better
• Teaching client self-help and coping mechanisms such as deep breathing, meditation, thinking exercises, and more
• Referring some clients to psychiatrists or mental health facilities/medical professionals if deemed necessary
• Helping clients to learn to love themselves
• Reducing the stigma and shame that many bring with mental illness and therapy

Psychologists offer research, practice, and teach a wide range of topics having to do with the way people think, feel, and behave. They can work with individuals, groups, families, and larger organizations in the government or specific industries.

A few topics that psychologists focus on within their practice include:

• Mental health issues like depression, anxiety, phobias, etc.
• Neurological, genetic, psychological, and any social determinants of a client’s behavior
• Psychological determinants of a client’s health and psychological factors that may contribute to health and disease management
• Psychological factors that prevent disease and maintain physical health
• Rehabilitation to a disability and chronic illness
• Brain injuries or degenerative brain diseases
• Relations between psychological factors and the physical conditions and illnesses of an individual
• Cognitive functions
• Developmental and behavioral abilities
• Criminal behavior, crime prevention, and services available to victims and perpetrators of criminal activity
• Abductions, substance abuse and abuse
• Stress, anger, and other lifestyle management needs
• Court consultations for psychological factors within legal matters
• Psychology in the workplace
• Marital and family relationships and issues
• Social and cultural behaviors
• Psychological factors related to the performance of an individual in work, school, recreation, and sport

Psychiatrists main focus is on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders in individuals. They are a medical doctor who specializes in the mental health field. A few of the mental illnesses that psychiatrists may work with include:

• Schizophrenia
• Bipolar
• Trauma and stressor related disorders
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Depressive disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• Feeding and eating disorders
• Elimination disorders
• Sleep disorders
• Sexual dysfunctions
• Gender dysphoria
• Substance and addictive disorders
• Personality disorders

A psychiatrist treatment plan will involve a combination of:

• Psychotherapy
• Medication
• Light therapy
• Brain stimulation therapy

Psychiatrists differ as they are medical doctors who can prescribe medication. They focus on the body and mind as a whole. They usually treat patients with medication, prescription, and management.

Psychologists specialize in the study of an individual’s behaviors and mental processes. They help people learn to understand and handle different life problems and mental health issues by diagnosing and treating mental disorders, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems.

Therapists require a master’s degree, provide mental health diagnoses and offer to develop a treatment plan that will best suit their client’s needs. Unlike psychiatrists, therapists cannot recommend or order any medications but can refer their clients for an evaluation of medication and other treatments from a psychiatrist.

Call us for more information or schedule an appointment online. We serve patients from Creve Coeur MO, St. Louis MO, Independence MO, Olathe KS, Columbia MO, Craig KS, Spring Hill KS, Pierpont MO, Kirkwood MO, Kansas City MO, River Bend MO & Beyond!