The difference between a psychologist and a psychotherapist. What is the difference between a psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst - what is the difference

Often a person does not know who to turn to - a psychotherapist, psychologist or psychiatrist

It should be noted that a psychologist is not a doctor. Psychologists become specialists who have received a higher education in the humanities and have undergone training in the field of psychology. In general, psychologists deal with the problems of people who are mentally healthy. A psychologist is a person who has extensive knowledge of how the process of mental development occurs. Most often, such a specialist has a narrow specialization: for example, only child psychology, only social or organizational psychology.

Most people classify as “psychologists” a huge number of other specialties that may not even overlap. They are all different: training in psychological centers, testing with a psychological background, psychological diagnostics and much more. There are also specialists trained in psychological theory. These include teachers of psychology, for example, in colleges and universities. All of the above professions are different, so one specialist cannot replace another.

However, when we plan to see a psychologist, we mean a practicing specialist who has not only received theoretical training, but also has experience in this field. And it would be quite nice if the psychologist we chose also underwent psychotherapy. This will not only help him better understand the mechanism of influence of psychological counseling, but also so that in the process of working with clients he does not “dump” his own life difficulties and problems onto them.

Psychological consultations help overcome depression

Psychological consultations help overcome depression and help a person find the strength and confidence to overcome problems, stress, and disappointments.

The process of psychological counseling can be short, for one or two meetings with a psychologist, or it can last for a couple of weeks or even months. For some, even a year will not be enough. These terms depend on the client’s condition, the severity of his problem, as well as on the methods that the specialist uses in his work. When turning to a psychologist, you need to know how he differs, for example, from a psychotherapist.

These are the cases when you need to consult a psychologist

• — the client is dissatisfied with his life and himself;
• - depression;
• - tense or conflictual relationships with family;
• - difficult situations in your personal life or at work: divorce, dismissal, etc.;
• - delayed development in children (speech, learning difficulties), as well as in order to correct thinking, memory, attention or imagination;
• - feeling of anxiety, constant feeling of fear;
• - nervous tic, stuttering;
• — when psychosomatic diseases are detected (when chronic diseases worsen due to stress);
• - difficulties in communicating among peers or, conversely, among adults;
• - aggressive attitude towards others, frequent irritability, excessive activity;
• - psychological trauma caused by violence: sexual, physical or psychological (pressure, oppression);
• - serious trauma, such as the death of a loved one or the divorce of parents, as well as a complex operation, a car accident, etc.

When to see a psychiatrist

Unlike a psychologist, a psychiatrist is a specialist who has received a higher medical education, who in addition received special training in mental disorders. The area in which a psychiatrist works includes mental disorders, their diagnosis and treatment. This specialist observes the functioning of such functions of the human body as memory, thinking, perception and emotional experiences. If the functioning of these functions is disrupted, the psychiatrist prescribes certain treatment.

The psychiatrist carefully observes the patient's behavior

In addition, the psychiatrist also treats psychosomatic diseases, which include asthma, ulcers, diabetes, thyroid diseases and others. Basically, in these cases, the specialist resorts to treatment with medications and a regimen, sometimes adding psychotherapeutic conversations. And the main difference between a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist and other specialists in this field is that he has the right to use special psychopharmacological drugs in treatment.

Let's consider the work scheme of a psychiatrist. For example, parents turn to a specialist about their child, who suffers from hyperactivity, as well as hysterics and inattention. The psychiatrist first observes the child’s behavior, talks to him, asks questions, or suggests doing certain exercises. After this, if there are any doubts, the doctor can refer the client to see a neurologist and then read his conclusion. Sometimes a psychiatrist can also recommend hardware tests that will give a more accurate diagnosis. Such procedures include electroencephalography.

A conscientious specialist will take into account factors such as the client’s character, his age and related characteristics. And only then will he give an objective assessment of the child’s condition and decide whether to prescribe medication or whether to work with a psychologist. The psychiatrist can also make decisions such as sending the child to a specialized school or kindergarten, as well as switching to home schooling and exemption from school exams.

To understand the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist, you need to know what problems the former works with:

• - increased feeling of anxiety or constant fear of something;
• - depression, apathy, bad mood, lasting for a long time;
• - sudden changes in mood;
• - Significant changes in sleep and eating patterns;
• - the inability to solve everyday affairs;
• - when a person too often tells lies or invents his own world and believes that everything that happens in it is real;
• - when a person behaves inappropriately: strong and unexpected outbursts of aggression, excessive imposition of his opinion;
• - if a teenager or adult often thinks about suicide and talks about it;
• - a very noticeable change in a person's personality, in his behavior;
• - the expression of strange ideas and attempts to implement them;
• - Frequent use of alcohol or drugs.

If you notice that you or someone in your family has one or more of these signs, you should consider visiting a psychiatrist. You shouldn’t stress yourself out and be afraid in advance, because it’s easier to solve any problem before it “grows.” Of course, even in our time, psychological illnesses are considered shameful, and not everyone will find the strength to immediately seek help from a specialist in this field.

But we must keep in mind that even the most internally strong person can find himself in a very difficult situation, which can easily take away all mental strength. Therefore, sometimes you need to allow another person to provide the necessary help. Since it often happens that unresolved problems are transformed into psychosomatic diseases, and mental disorders can drag on for a long time. And you will have to put up with it and live with it.

Help from a psychotherapist

A psychotherapist is also a doctor. This is a specialist who has received a higher medical education. But he also has special training in psychotherapy. That is, the psychotherapist has knowledge of the methods of psychotherapeutic work with clients. These methods include: NLP, body-oriented therapy, transpersonal therapy, as well as gestalt therapy and Ericksonian trance. With the help of a psychotherapist, a client can relive some old experiences, mental trauma and receive specialist help.

The psychotherapist uses the Ericksonian trance technique

Very often there are cases when a psychologist also calls himself a psychotherapist, because he has undergone special training and knows the methods of psychotherapeutic treatment. But, despite this, the psychologist still does not have a medical education, which means that he cannot prescribe certain medications to the client, even antidepressants for depression.

Of course, if we are talking about a relatively healthy person who does not have serious mental disorders, then it will not make much difference who to turn to: a doctor - a psychotherapist - a psychologist or a doctor - a psychotherapist - a psychiatrist. But when the patient suffers from serious mental disorders, a combination of psychiatric help and exposure to psychotherapeutic methods of treatment will be very helpful. Moreover, sometimes it is more effective if both types of therapy are carried out by one specialist, a psychotherapist. And sometimes it happens the other way around, it is better if help is provided by different specialists, using each specific method of treatment.

Cases considered and treated by a psychotherapist

• — lethargy, apathy, depression;
• - when the client is not satisfied with his life, his status, work, etc.;
• - frequent stress, life difficulties;
• - a state of increased anxiety and obsessive fears, phobias;
• - panic disorders;
• - frequent loss of strength, irritability;
• - psychosomatic diseases, that is, stress that exacerbates chronic diseases.

From all this it should be concluded that there is no clear boundary between the areas of activity of three different specialists. In fact, it is very difficult to detect. Because very often we meet psychologists - psychotherapists, psychiatrists - psychotherapists, as well as psychologists of other directions.

To a good specialist in the powers of "cure the soul"

It is very easy for a person who has little knowledge of this issue to become confused about the difference between a psychologist and a psychotherapist, and a psychotherapist from a psychiatrist. And, if you or one of your relatives needs the help of a person who can “heal” the soul, and you cannot independently determine who exactly, then it is best to turn to a good friend who is a specialist in this field. And he will either provide the necessary assistance, or, if he considers it necessary, advise you to go to another specialist.

I have to answer this question quite often, so today there will be a post in which we will try to understand the types of shrinks. The post reflects the realities of the Russian Federation; in other countries everything can (and most likely will be) different.

Areas of knowledge

The first and most important thing in which they differ is the field of knowledge in which each of them is [with a good combination of circumstances] a specialist.

So, psychiatry. Firstly, it is part of medicine. Those. field of knowledge and industry dedicated to diseases and their treatment, prevention, prevention and rehabilitation after.

Psychiatry studies various types of mental disorders. She doesn't deal with the norm. Or rather, not so: she is engaged in it in the sense that she is trying to bring her patients to her, but if a person is mentally healthy and is not going to lose this status, then she will most likely not be interested in him.

Psychology is almost the complete opposite. Firstly, this is not a branch of medicine (yes, there is a so-called medical psychology, but about it - below and separately). She studies the work of the psyche. Normal healthy mentality, for the most part (again, yes, there is pathopsychology, but we will also consider it separately).

Those. she is just a healthy person, rejected by psychiatry because of his normality, will be interesting in practical and theoretical terms. But psychology does not deal with treatment. But he is engaged in increasing the level of adaptation, personal effectiveness, personal growth and other things like that.

Psychotherapy. This is also part of medicine. In the sense that it considers, studies and practices the treatment of mental illness. But, at the same time, it can also normalize / solve the problems of a healthy person. Those. in the field of problems being solved, this is a mixture of psychiatry and psychology.

Specialist education

Psychiatrist and psychotherapist are always specialists with higher profile education. A psychologist (but not a medical psychologist) can (at least at the time of writing, until the law on the provision of psychological assistance is passed) be a person who does not have any formal education at all.

Further, a psychiatrist and psychotherapist are doctors. Those. these are people who have graduated from the medical faculty, have completed residency / internship / practice as a GP / other formal stages - depending on how long the training of this specialist took: recently, officials like to change this medical bureaucracy quite often.

An ordinary psychologist may not do any of this. There are psychologists with higher psychological education. And there are without it, but past profs. retraining or training in some MAAP or gestalt institute. Those. formally, this is not a higher education, but studying there is also long, expensive and very hardcore.

A psychiatrist, psychotherapist and medical psychologist (but not just a psychologist, this does not apply to him) must undergo training and advanced training, otherwise their diploma / license will lose its validity.

Only a person who is already a psychiatrist (but not a psychologist!) can become a psychotherapist through additional training. After this, he receives the appropriate certificate and the right to be called a psychotherapist.

You can retrain to become a psychologist relatively quickly (no more than 1,100 hours) and cheaply (from 15,000 rubles). Even on clinical / medical (it's the same). This is done through professional retraining, on the basis of which a diploma is then awarded with a qualification.

But there is no particular point in this - on the one hand, private practice can be conducted without a diploma at all, on the other, if the employer requires a higher education, then, most likely, a retraining diploma will not suit him.

But, as I said, this is not the way to become a real clinical psychologist. What is the difference between real and fake? The fact that the real one has the right to work in a psychiatric hospital, but not the real one. At the same time, he can work in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the army, an ordinary hospital, but not in a psychiatric hospital.

There is an opinion that you can turn out and become a real clinical psychologist without first studying for it, if you get a higher education in psychology and then undergo retraining for clinical psychology (or graduate from the medical department and then retrain for clinical psychology), but I was not able to find out the reliability of this information . Different educational organizations and psychiatric hospitals gave me different answers.

Drug therapy

The psychologist does not prescribe or prescribe fun pills. And sad ones too. Even medical. If he recommends accepting something, then he goes beyond his formal rights. In current realities, this does not mean that he is necessarily wrong, but you must understand that he is exceeding his authority.

On the contrary, both the psychiatrist and the psychotherapist have the right to prescribe pills. In practice, the former, as a rule, limit themselves to only this, while the latter often refuse this opportunity, preferring treatment with words.

On the other hand, both a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist have the right to use non-drug methods of influence (the same therapeutic conversations in all their diversity).

Official diagnostics, examination and other bureaucracy

The psychologist does not make diagnoses. Even a medical psychologist does not make diagnoses, but reveals symptom complexes. Those. he will tell you that you have a schizophrenic symptom complex, but whether it is specifically F20.0 or F25.0 - he no longer decides.

The psychiatrist and psychotherapist have the right to make a diagnosis. But they do not have the right to conduct a psychological examination. An ordinary psychologist doesn’t either, but a medical one does. Forensic examination requires its own separate certificate.

Practical approach to work

In reality, things are often not as they really are. Therefore, there are no clear rules here, and everything very much depends on the specialist: I have seen psychologists illegally recommending drugs (very competently and successfully), and psychiatrists conducting openly psychotherapeutic sessions (which, in theory, is also haram), and psychotherapists refusing to combine psychiatry with pills. But these are exceptions, and we will look at the general trend.

The psychiatrist will most likely feed you pills, give you injections and give you IVs. In most cases, he frankly doesn’t care about your rich inner world, he is interested in the absence of productive (delusions, hallucinations) and (less often) negative (emotional-volitional defect) symptoms. How well (subjectively) you will feel after life-giving haloperidol is of no concern to him (of course, there are good specialists who do not, but in my provincial sample there are vanishingly few of them).

The psychologist will most likely talk to you. Ask something about your childhood, analyze your thoughts, feelings and somehow interpret them. In principle, all the psychologists I know (both personally, on the Internet, and in literature) have given up on the ban on engaging in psychotherapy and are actively pursuing it. The only “but” is that en masse they are afraid of real psychos.

Those. If a psychologist is able to recognize a schizo, most likely he will refuse to work with him. No, no, if you have OCD, bipolar disorder, autism or something else, you shouldn’t rejoice - usually psychologists don’t really understand the types of psychos and are afraid of everyone the same.

A clinical psychologist will work with you to diagnose, test and determine what and who you are. And, of course, psychocounseling. And even psychological correction (see below).

And then, quite possibly, he will send you to a psychiatrist, psychologist or psychotherapist with specific recommendations, which can be very useful.

A psychotherapist can feed you pills, and then, in fact, work either in the format of psychotherapy (word treatment) or psychology (increasing awareness, helping in self-knowledge and understanding of others). But in practice, they are still either psychiatrists at heart and base treatment on drug therapy, or psychologists (we remember that in reality psychologists do not hesitate to use psychotherapy methods, although, in theory, they should not).

Who to go to

To a good specialist. Seriously: a good specialist in the “wrong” (i.e., not the most suitable for your specific case) field is much better than a bad specialist in the right one.

Simply because a good psychologist knows a good psychiatrist and will send you to the right address, if suddenly your misunderstanding with your wife is a manifestation of paranoid schiz, and you don’t have any wife. On the other hand, a good psychiatrist will prescribe you ascorbic acid and send you to a psychologist, if you are not a psychotic hypochondriac.

But if you don’t know a good shrink, you can use the following diagram as a guide.

1. Go to a psychotherapist or a medical (not ordinary!) psychologist. And demand from him to determine in which area your problem belongs. After that, everything will become clear.

2. If this is not possible, and the choice is between a simple psychologist and a psychiatrist, then go to a psychiatrist. Simply because in this case the cost of a mistake is lower: it’s not as scary for a healthy person to take a course of some “Risperidone” as it is for a crazy person with delusions of jealousy to skip treatment and uselessly delve into why his wife doesn’t love him (paranoia is a scary thing!) .

Personally, I worked with all these specialists, and ultimately came to the conclusion voiced in the first paragraph of this section.

How to understand if this specialist is good

This section will be pure IMHO. The surest way: study yourself at least at an intermediate level in psychopharmacology, psychiatry, psychotherapy and psychology and talk to a specialist. Long, expensive, high quality.

Attention: the method does not work for people with delusional concepts: if you have a seriously impaired reality testing, then for you there is only one answer - nothing.

If this is not possible, then there are a few simple rules:

1. Your specialist should have at least an approximate idea of ​​what evidence-based medicine is (even if he is just a psychologist), and how his methods are perceived by her. You can quite successfully work with a specialist who uses methods that do not have proven effectiveness (for example, psychoanalysis), but knowledge of what EBM is, why it is needed, why it is important is a certain general cultural level of a specialist, and if it is not there, talk about nothing.

2. Your specialist should not be intimidated by the words Pubmed and Cochrane. It’s even better if he knows what it is and why he needs it (or convincingly prove that he doesn’t need it, although there are possible options here).

3. Your specialist himself undergoes personal therapy. Even if he is a psychiatrist. Personal therapy is an awesome experience that cannot be replaced by anything.

4. Your specialist knows English at a level sufficient to read professional literature. Simply because all the most interesting and new things are published on it (or quickly translated into it), and if a specialist does not speak this language, he will be on the sidelines of progress.

Experience. Experience is a good thing, but it must be properly integrated and interpreted. And it’s not like “the same clinical mistakes repeated for 20 years.”

Reviews... You need to be careful with reviews. This is an area where, in addition to the usual “everyone lies” glorified in House, there is also a lack of awareness. And one discreetly positive review from a schizoid can mean more than ten emotionally enthusiastic praises from a hysterical person (or it may not mean that). How to evaluate the quality of reviews? See the first sentence of the section.

About clinical/medical psychologists

I promised to write about them separately. First of all, they are the same thing. They are called clinical in their diploma, and medical in their work, when they work in a psychiatric hospital.

They have some tricks that ordinary psychologists don’t have (or don’t have enough):

1. They still study psychiatry. And psychotherapy too.

2. They study pathopsychology, so they can work with real psychos.

3. They carry out psychological correction - i.e. recovery using non-drug methods. How is this different from psychotherapy? Basically the name.

And, yes, a real clinical psychologist studied in medical school. institute/university, just not at the medical department, but at the clinical psyche.

In the articles we analyzed what it is psychotherapy. In this article we will try to understand what it is psychotherapist.

If you have read previous articles, you will have noticed that the founders of well-known psychotherapeutic areas were general practitioners, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and one (who completed courses in psychology).

Psychotherapy appeared at the intersection of psychiatry and psychology. Most of the founders of psychotherapeutic schools were doctors, as, for example, all the members International Psychoanalytic Association at the dawn of its formation. It was believed that psychotherapy is a branch of medicine, and only a doctor can do it. This was the rule for a long time.

If you read the previous article “,” then you noticed that it said nothing about the brain, nervous system, human anatomy and physiology. That is, it cannot be said that special medical knowledge is required to conduct psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy is treatment with words

Concept psychotherapy combines the entire diverse range of methods of treatment with the help of words (and without drugs).

Just a word: psychoanalysis, group analysis, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, Rogers' client-centered psychotherapy, Jung's analytical psychotherapy, Berne's transactional analysis, existential analysis, etc.

By word and action: child psychoanalysis, psychodrama, gestalt therapy, body-oriented psychotherapy, dance-movement psychotherapy, art therapy, etc.

Medications are sometimes prescribed during psychotherapy as support, but it is better if this is done by another specialist (to maintain the purity of the method, despite the fact that the psychotherapist may be a doctor authorized to prescribe medications).

Psychologists and doctors - what's the difference?

Psychologist And doctor– these concepts characterize the education received.

Modern psychological faculties provide a serious education for the future psychotherapist. Among the disciplines studied there:

cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, logic, history and theory of religions, history of psychology, general, comparative, experimental, developmental, social and clinical psychology, personality psychology, developmental psychology, ethnopsychology, zoopsychology, psychogenetics, mathematical methods of statistics in psychology, anatomy , psychophysiology of the central nervous system, physiology of the central nervous system, physiology of the internal nervous system and sensory systems, hormonal regulation of mental states, psychopathology, basics of psychotherapy, psychodiagnostics, training, etc.

We can say that all disciplines studied in psychological universities, one way or another, prepare for psychotherapeutic activity. Bold highlighted disciplines that were traditionally considered the domain of doctors, but are now studied in the training of psychologists. Of course, these disciplines are not studied in as much depth as in medical universities, as can be seen below.

Doctors study the following disciplines during their training:

Latin, medical biology, genetics, human anatomy, pathological and topographic anatomy, general, bioorganic and biological chemistry, biological physics, history of medicine, histology, embryology, cytology, normal physiology, pathological physiology, microbiology with virology and immunology, infectious diseases, pediatric infectious diseases, epidemiology, pharmacology, internal medicine, occupational diseases, general, pediatric, operative and military surgery, surgical diseases, pediatrics, oncology, radiation diagnostics and radiation therapy, dermatovenerology, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, endocrinology, phthisiopulmonology, otorhinolaryngology, dentistry, ophthalmology, physiotherapy, traumatology and orthopedics, medical rehabilitation, forensic medicine, neurosurgery, neurology, narcology, psychiatry, logic, philosophy, fundamentals of psychology, medical psychology and etc.

As you can see, when training a doctor, the main attention is paid to anatomy and physiology, chemistry and, of course, medicine. Modern medicine is a very complex, huge area of ​​natural science, and it turns out that when training a doctor, they practically try to “embrace the immensity.” Accordingly, there is very little time left for the subjects necessary in preparing a psychotherapist (highlighted bold). And on basics of psychotherapy In medical universities, as a rule, hours are not allocated.

The general impression is that psychologists prepare to work with people, and doctors- with diseases.

Doctors can prescribe medications, but psychologists cannot. But this is not necessary for psychotherapy.

Who can become a psychotherapist?

Today in our country a doctor or psychologist can become a psychotherapist (abroad, social workers and sometimes philosophers also have this opportunity).

In order to clarify the status of psychotherapy, which traditionally belonged to medicine, in the law About psychological assistance to the population in Moscow N 43 dated 10/07/2009 in article 6 were deciphered Main types of psychological assistance to the population in Moscow, among which is indicated psychological analysis and psychotherapy (non-medical) .

But neither the basic education of a psychologist nor the education of a doctor today, in itself, is sufficient to engage in psychotherapy.

Psychotherapist is a psychologist or doctor who has continued his education (passed specialization or, as it is officially called in our country, professional retraining ) to gain the opportunity to practice in the field psychotherapy.

Science degree ( candidate or doctor), as well as departmental positions in higher educational institutions ( assistant professor or Professor), by themselves do not indicate anything about qualifications in a practical field. The former testify to achievements in the field of science, the latter – to achievements in the field of teaching in higher educational institutions.

Psychotherapy was born in the depths of medicine, therefore in its definition it has the word treatment. Psychologists tried to introduce their own term, similar to psychotherapy, - psychocorrection, but it didn’t take root. But the term introduced by psychologists has taken root psychological counseling, which should be understood as short-term psychotherapy (1-7 meetings), as a result of which a certain result should be obtained. Psychological counseling is not a diagnosis at all, it is what we expect from medical consultation(in psychology it is generally not customary to make a diagnosis; there is no particular need or practical sense for this).

But there is no “just” psychotherapy. Psychotherapy– this is a general concept. A specific psychotherapy always belongs to some school: psychoanalysis, group analysis, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, psychodrama, etc.

Psychotherapy training (specialization or retraining) lasts several years. Any retraining (specialization) that takes several months, of course, cannot inspire confidence. Training in such a seemingly “frivolous” type of psychotherapy as dance, V Institute of Practical Psychology and Psychoanalysis lasts a total of 4 years.

God forbid I go crazy, no, better than a staff and a scrip... These words were written by the great poet Alexander Pushkin almost two centuries ago, but they remain relevant for most of us even now. Indeed, many of us fear mental illnesses much more than physical illnesses.

And this is the main reason why treatment or correction of mental disorders begins late. What keeps a person from seeing a doctor in a timely manner is the fear of being labeled as “mentally ill.”

But there is another problem: often people simply do not know which doctor to contact if certain symptoms of mental disorder occur. Psychologist, psychotherapist, psychiatrist - the prefix “psycho” is perceived as an intimidating factor, and creates the misleading impression that all these specialists are doing the same thing. But there are also neurologists (neuropathologists) - in what area do they work?

Who should I go to for treatment?

The modern rhythm of life is accompanied by regular stress, nervous tension, and our psyche is subjected to powerful stress. Someone is able to cope with this by relaxing in time, giving the body rest. But sometimes your internal resources run out, and you realize that something incomprehensible is happening to you, something that you are not able to cope with on your own. And this means that it is time to seek help from a specialist.

To whom exactly? Let's try to figure it out. A psychologist, psychotherapist and psychiatrist have one goal - to help the patient restore his damaged psyche. But they do it in different ways.

Psychologist

The main difference between a psychologist and a psychotherapist and psychiatrist is that a psychologist is not a doctor. Accordingly, he does not make clinical medical diagnoses and does not provide drug treatment. He has a different task: to help the patient restore peace of mind, gain self-confidence, develop communication skills, and teach them to cope with the negative consequences of mental and emotional stress.

Psychologists are often hired to conduct training, test intelligence levels, and identify abilities. His consultations help determine the choice of profession, find a common language with growing children, and eliminate misunderstandings in marital relationships. Recently, psychologists have been actively used to work with relatives of victims of plane crashes, to provide psychological assistance to victims of earthquakes and other natural disasters, in extreme and crisis situations. It should also be emphasized that psychologists vary greatly in the type of their activities, which depends on their specialization. There are sports psychologists, military psychologists, medical psychologists, social psychologists, etc. At the same time, psychologists, in particular medical psychologists, can also work with sick people in their area of ​​competence: for example, with people suffering from addictions; Conduct clinical and psychological studies to clarify the medical diagnosis. In recent years, the range of work of psychologists in Russia has expanded significantly, and the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated September 12, 2016 No. 1181 in the specialty 05/37/01 “Clinical Psychology” provides for specialization in pathopsychological diagnostics and psychotherapy. Many psychologists began to engage in psychotherapeutic practice, although without prescribing medications.

Conclusion: a psychologist, not being a doctor, does not practice medicine in the usual sense, does not prescribe medications, does not treat diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system, and does not make clinical medical diagnoses based on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD X).

Psychotherapist

In our country, a psychotherapist is often confused with a psychiatrist, believing that they are the same doctor. The only truth is that both of these specialists are indeed doctors, as opposed to a psychologist. But they use different treatment methods.

A psychotherapist rarely treats deep mental disorders. The realm of psychotherapy has traditionally always been considered neuroses and neurosis-like conditions, with such manifestations as: fears (phobias), obsessive thoughts and actions (obsessions), hypochondriacal disorders (excessive withdrawal into illness), neurotic depression, functional sleep disorders, disorders of adaptive reactions (adaptation disorders ), as well as painful conditions caused by stress and somatic suffering caused by mental factors. In recent years, the role of psychotherapy in the treatment of addictions (alcohol, drugs and gaming) has increased enormously. Collective, group and family types of psychotherapy are very important. Psychotherapy is also called minor psychiatry, and its scope of application is the so-called borderline mental disorders.

During treatment, the psychotherapist does not rely on medications alone; he tries, together with you, to understand the reasons for the shaken mental balance, identifying the problems that provoked the mental disorder. In their therapeutic practice, psychotherapists use many techniques and techniques, using such forms of influence as persuasion, suggestion, hypnosuggestive, body-oriented and other technical techniques. The therapeutic effect is largely due to mental factors, because the term “psychotherapy” itself implies the treatment of the soul by the soul (compare: Greek ψυχή - “soul” + θεραπεία - “treatment”).
In practice, all psychotherapists have a basic psychiatric education, just like narcologists. This is an additional specialization. Psychotherapists are all psychiatrists and prescribe medications the same way. They can simply engage in substantive psychotherapy (they have the appropriate license). Just as a neurologist can, for example, with special additional education, engage in acupuncture.

Conclusion: psychotherapist is a doctor who treats borderline mental disorders using a system of psychological and verbal influences, and drug treatment is only a supplement to the main therapy, but not a complete replacement for it.

Psychiatrist

If a psychologist and psychotherapist can be conditionally classified as mental health specialists, then a psychiatrist stands apart in this row, since he treats truly severe and advanced mental illnesses, which include:

1. Endogenous diseases (that is, diseases that develop from some internal, for example genetically determined, causes). Endogenous diseases include: schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis (or affective psychosis), cyclothymia (a mood disorder associated with sudden fluctuations)
2. Endogenous - organic diseases are caused by internal factors or due to internal causes and cerebral-organic pathology, for example, with traumatic brain injuries, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, mental disorders caused by vascular diseases of the brain).

1. Somatogenic, exogenous and exogenous-organic mental disorders. “Somatogenic” - that is, mental illnesses that arise as a result of physical (somatic) diseases. Many diseases, even a common cold with a high fever, can lead to mental disorders. “Exogenous” (that is, dependent on external causes) mental disorders arise as a result of infections, medicinal, industrial and other types of intoxication, as well as due to the use of alcohol and drugs.

A psychiatrist is a specialist in the field of so-called major psychiatry. The work of a psychiatrist and the psychiatric examination of the patient itself is strictly regulated by the law on psychiatry, which provides for involuntary examination and hospitalization of a person only in exceptional cases.

It is wrong to believe that the psychiatrist does not conduct “soul-saving” conversations with his patients at all, and treatment consists only of the use of psychotropic drugs, sometimes very powerful.

A psychiatrist often acts as a psychotherapist, influencing the soul of a sick person with a kind word, compassion, and warmth.

A psychiatrist should also be contacted in a number of crisis situations, for example, with suicide attempts or eating disorders (for example, with anorexia nervosa), with epilepsy, if there are mental disorders, with childhood disorders and some sexual deviations, with disorders of consciousness, memory and perception of the world around us.

Conclusion: psychiatrist is a doctor whose competence is the treatment of severe mental disorders, including delusions, hallucinations and behavioral disorders. Drug treatment is often the main (but not the only) type of therapy in the psychiatrist’s arsenal.

Neurologist and neuropathologist

A neurologist treats diseases of the central nervous system (spinal cord and brain), as well as the peripheral nervous system. In fact, “neuropathologist” or, as they now call it, “neurologist” is one and the same thing, only the first term was used more often in Soviet times, and the concept “neurologist” has replaced it in an abbreviated form in our days.

If we turn to a psychotherapist or psychiatrist with mental pain, then a neurologist deals with healing physical pain. Patients are usually referred to this specialist by a general practitioner to diagnose a huge number of diseases of the nervous system:

• Osteocondritis of the spine
• Intervertebral disc herniation
• Encephalopathy
• Neuropathies and neuralgia
• Cerebrovascular accident
• Consequences of traumatic brain injuries
• Radiculitis
• Polyneuropathy, etc.

A neurologist should be contacted for facial and headache pain, convulsions, epileptic seizures, back pain, sleep disturbances associated with organic diseases, impaired coordination of movements, staggering, fainting, dizziness, tics, tinnitus, progressive memory impairment.

Conclusion: A neurologist (neurologist) does not belong to the category of “psychologists”, but treats diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system. Therapy can be complex - along with drug treatment, methods such as physiotherapy, therapeutic exercises, massage, etc. are prescribed.

Finally

If you notice that you have health problems, do not put off seeing a doctor. Remember that timely treatment begins greatly increases the chances of recovery. We hope that our advice will help you figure out which doctor to contact with your complaints.