Who is a psychiatrist and psychologist? What do psychotherapy and psychology have in common?

The competence of a psychiatrist includes the identification and treatment of the following diseases:

  • Schizophrenia (manic, sluggish);
  • Paranoid tendencies;
  • Suicide attempts;
  • Epileptic seizures;
  • Delirium tremens;
  • Various phobias that take on an obsessive nature;
  • Hallucinations and delusions;
  • Post-traumatic syndrome caused by a serious nervous breakdown;
  • Mental disorders that led to bulimia or anorexia;
  • Alzheimer's disease.

Psychiatric consultation: who needs it?

Persons who experience the following clinical symptoms need consultation with a psychiatrist:

Specialization: Psychotherapy Research: Medicine Additional qualifications: Psychotherapy Own professional title: Yes Costs: Yes. However, the term "psychological psychotherapists" refers to psychologists who have completed a three to five year additional course in accordance with their university studies in psychology. Psychological therapists should not prescribe medications.

Focus: Psychotherapy Study: Psychology Additional qualifications: Many years of training in psychotherapy Protected professional title: Yes Costs: Yes. Many years of additional or specialized training in psychology or medicine are a prerequisite for the possibility of psychotherapy offered by health insurance companies. Psychotherapists specialize in a psychotherapy procedure that is registered in Germany.

  • Aggression and cruelty towards others;
  • Apathy and indifference to what is happening around;
  • Constant depression;
  • Thoughts about suicide;
  • Irritability and nervous breakdowns;
  • Frequent hysterical attacks;
  • Desire to constantly use alcohol or drugs;
  • Constant feeling of anxiety and fear;
  • Distrust of others, search for a catch in everything;
  • Voices in your head that tell you what to do;
  • Phobias and obsessive states.

Where can I find a good psychiatrist?

If you need a good psychiatrist in the capital, and you don’t know who to turn to, use our website.

Psychiatrists are mental health specialists, meaning they have completed a medical degree. To obtain the title of “psychiatrist,” a doctor must undergo many years of specialist training after graduating from school. Psychiatrists are the right starting point when it comes to prescribing medications as they mainly deal with the physical side of mental illness.

  • Specialization: drug treatment.
  • Research: medicine.
  • Additional qualifications: psychiatry.
  • Professional title: Yes.
  • Costs: Yes.
Although the professional title "psychotherapist" is protected in Germany, there are often variations of the term, such as.

How to choose a psychiatrist and get an appointment with him?

In order not to waste time looking for a specialist, but to immediately contact the best psychiatrist in Moscow, pay attention to the reviews section. Here are detailed impressions and recommendations from patients who have already encountered these specialists. After studying the reviews of other people, you can immediately make an appointment with the most experienced doctor.

This is not an equivalent qualification to “psychological psychotherapist” or “medical psychotherapist”. Healing practitioners are examined by health authorities. There is no need to study at university. Non-medicinal practitioners are not required to use evidence-based treatments. Medicines should not be prescribed by them. Therefore, there are large differences in the quality of treatment. The costs of treatment with the help of a trainee therapist are usually not covered by statutory health insurance funds and must be paid by the patient himself.

Pre-registration for an appointment can be made by calling the clinic or online directly on the website.

Many people with mental disorders are ashamed to seek help, left alone with their problems. By contacting the clinic, you don’t have to worry about the fact that you won’t be understood or that your problems will become known to someone. All information shared during the appointment will remain between the patient and the doctor.

Psychological consultant and trainer

Focus: Psychotherapy Research: Optional Additional Qualifications: Board Exam Protected Professional Designation: Yes Cost: Private or with additional insurance. The professional designation "psychological counselor" is not protected in Germany, so caution should be exercised when seeking psychotherapeutic treatment. In any case, it is advisable to find out about the qualifications of the consultant. Some qualified psychologists and psychotherapists also offer “psychological counseling” or “coaching” for private payers.

When a person has something in pain, he goes to the doctor. If your throat hurts, go to the therapist, if your teeth hurt, go to the dentist, if your legs hurt, go to the orthopedist. Who should you go to if your soul hurts? To a psychologist or psychiatrist? Many people often confuse these two specialties, so you need to carefully understand how a psychiatrist differs from a psychologist.

General concepts

The names of these specialties are very closely intertwined. This is not surprising, since these are terms with the same root. From the Greek “psycho” - soul, which means that these professions are closely related to brain activity, the higher nervous system and the psyche as a whole. But each of them has its own fundamental differences. Let's understand the concepts:

One advantage is that no diagnosis or claims need to be sent to the health insurance company.

  • Focus: consulting, coaching, training.
  • Research: optional.
  • Additional qualifications: not required.
  • Protected professional title: none.
  • Costs: none.
The family doctor plays an important role in diagnosing depression. For most people this is the first stop. The diagnosis is made in 70% of cases by a family doctor. He usually has a good knowledge of the medical history and environment of his patients.

  • Psychology is a science that deals with general questions about the state of the soul.
  • Psychiatry refers to the medical field and involves the treatment of various mental disorders.
  • Psychotherapy is a method of treatment by influencing the psyche.

Let's take a closer look at how a psychiatrist differs from a psychologist.

Psychologist

A psychologist is a specialist who graduated from a higher humanitarian educational institution, most often a pedagogical one. It has nothing to do with medicine as such. His task is to study the inner world of a person, figure out what problems he has, and how he can be helped. The help of a psychologist is most often verbal. He does not have the right to prescribe medications or make diagnoses. The result of his work is specific advice on how to get out of crisis situations related to the patient’s family or personal life, his career, study or other aspects of life.

Help for first contact

Contact with a psychiatrist or psychotherapist can be established through a family doctor. How do you take the first step when you know who to contact? Many people find it difficult to deal with the problem of depression to others, even a doctor or therapist. How do you find the right words? Can a doctor or therapist understand your complaints?

The first conversation is often the most difficult for many people. It quizzes you on your smartphone three times a day about your emotional and physical well-being and creates an accurate picture of your mood. After 14 days, you will receive an informed assessment of your mental health. You have the option to print the results in the form of a doctor's letter and take it with you during your first visit with your doctor or therapist.


Working as a psychologist means being completely immersed in the inner world of his client. That is why such specialists most often work in medical institutions as a consultant. For some time now, psychologists have been required to work in schools, kindergartens and universities. Their specific work is called a psychologist-educator. By their actions, such employees tell teachers how to properly conduct a dialogue with their students so as not to disturb the delicate child’s psyche.

This can make it easier to introduce the conversation and serve as a guide for the practitioner. good review your complaints. Here you can find short sketches of the questions. “What is the difference between a psychologist, psychiatrist and psychotherapist?” The psychologist studied psychology for 5-6 years, the psychiatrist studied medicine for about the same duration. Therefore, a psychologist knows about the soul, about the thoughts, actions and feelings of a person, a doctor about the body, about muscles, bones, blood, metabolism, nerve conductors.

Training to become a psychotherapist takes another 5 years after the study. Treatment methods, that is, practice, are studied here. A. also 5 years; The psychiatrist learns a lot about metabolic disorders, brain changes in dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, etc. about the medicines he can give. In principle, after completing the studies, the doctor can also train as a psychotherapist. He was then a medical psychotherapist, however, who completed the study of the body, and not, like the psychological psychotherapist, the study of the inner life.

Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a doctor who has graduated from a medical university. educational institution. This is a person who holds a position exclusively in hospitals and clinics. This means he makes diagnoses and prescribes medications. The scope of his activities is limited to diseases of the central nervous system and psyche. He diagnoses illnesses such as schizophrenia, hallucinations, and others.

So if you need pills or a physical examination of your metabolism or nerve lines, see a psychiatrist. If you would like counseling, therapy, or conversation, see a therapist. In general, you can come alone or bring partners, parents, children.

If you think your problem is only you are affected, you can come alone. However, it often happens that people close to people can bring information that can be useful for the overall view of things. If you feel your family's contribution would be helpful, please bring your family with you. We can then decide in the first conversation how to proceed: whether we exchange information only once or twice, or whether we meet constantly in a large profession.


A psychologist and a psychiatrist often work together. So, a psychologist can send a person to a psychiatrist for such a condition is fraught with very serious consequences, and in order to prevent them, medications are needed.

Psychotherapist

A very similar concept is a psychotherapist. If it is not so difficult to understand the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist, then a psychotherapist most often causes confusion. In fact, he is a specialist who deals with mental disorders in people and treats them with various non-drug methods. If the psychiatrist prescribes a healing pill, the psychotherapist will conduct a conversation.

If problems with couples are to be a central theme, we would ask you to consider the following: first the partner comes and then the other, there will almost always be an imbalance from the other's point of view: he was only later with So, and will feel, consciously or unconsciously, a lack . In addition, if we talk about only one of the two partners, it is often the case that in the case of good therapists, one should be wary of a good loss of neutrality: the person gradually perceives the person present, usually in some way at the expense of the absentee.

Literally from Greek, “psychotherapy” is translated as “healing of the soul.” It differs significantly from the specialty of a psychologist because it deals with deeper problems, but does not use drugs, as a psychiatrist does.


Treatment methods offered by psychotherapists include:

So if you want meaningful conversations with couples, the basic rule is: start with couples! Experience of more than 15 years of practice has shown that persons registered by others do not appear on deadline in 50% of cases. That's why we have a basic rule that a person who would like to visit us must call us personally to make an appointment.

Of course, we are simply wrong in your particular case here and are being overly cautious. However, we want to be sure that the date is also perceived and we do not know you personally yet. No problem: say it. Call the secretary, a message on the answering machine is enough.

  • Hypnosis.
  • Psychoanalysis.
  • Art therapy.
  • Neurolinguistic programming.
  • Play therapy.
  • Non-directive hypnosis and others.

Activities of a psychologist

Classes with a psychologist are the main tool that a specialist uses during his activities. They can be individual or group, conducted directly at the specialist’s place of work or on-site. A special focus is activities with children. They are held in different age groups. Moreover, this direction is subject to two strategies. The first is simple consultations to create conditions for comfortable studying, and the second is behavioral correction of relationships in a team, communications or personal problems of a teenager.

If you cancel more than 24 business days before your appointment, we have a chance to contact someone before your appointment and invite you in so you have no obligation. This rule applies regardless of the grounds for cancellation. Basically, you only book your next appointment and you can also cancel without any problem up to 24 hours.

Although we apply a quota of 25 hours in the case of therapy, this is simply the smallest number possible, and therapy often ends early because the client is doing well. In this case, the watch can practically be “cancelled” for another two years if it falls. Also accept other hours approved by the box office to another therapist when you move - there is usually a formless message to the box office here. You will be informed by telephone what concerns you have and decide as much as possible about therapy or counseling and with whom the first appointment will be agreed.

Help from a psychologist married couples involves conducting classes individually with spouses or simultaneously with both. In each individual case, the specialist chooses the direction of study that suits the specific problem. He makes all his decisions based on his personal experience And practical recommendations other colleagues.

Of course, this decision will be agreed with you and depends on the nature of your problem, as well as the dates still available. If an appointment has been agreed, this date is the so-called “first call”. In this first meeting - usually lasting 50 minutes, the couples' conversations have two purposes: on the one hand, it is important to get to know each other. Only when we understand each other well, both on a personal level and on a communication level, can we say that there is a basis for therapy and counseling.

Moreover, more accurately than on the phone, it turns out what you need and that we are “responsible” here. “Changing my wife” is, for example, a desire that we cannot meet. If there is mutual understanding and the wishes are permissible to our knowledge, further dates can be agreed upon.


Reasons for contacting a psychologist

There can be a huge number of reasons that would force a person to seek help. For example, such a specialist must be present in the antenatal clinic and in the maternity hospital. Pregnant women can experience enormous stress related to personal problems, and then advice and support are essential. Many problems arise after childbirth. In medicine there is even such a thing as But, besides this, people turn to psychologists with the following problems:

In the case of therapy, we then write a health insurance claim together. We answer other questions by phone. If you would like to register, you can do so in writing, provided there are still slots available in the course. "How long have you been waiting?"

This was necessary as more and more people are calling us as we can take therapy or counseling immediately. This meant that the caller was placed on a list and then, once "listed", was assigned to the first call. In the meantime, we canceled the list, that is, we closed the list, did not write it anymore, gradually called all the persons who were still interested in the appointment, and finally removed all the people still available from the list.

  1. Dissatisfaction with yourself and your life.
  2. Constant stress at work that leads to depression.
  3. Discord in family life.
  4. Lack of support and understanding from adults. The problem most often occurs in teenagers. Such help often becomes a salvation from suicide.
  5. Difficulties with adaptation in elementary school.
  6. Post-traumatic complications.
  7. Psychological support for incurable and complex diseases.

Activities of a psychiatrist

If working as a psychologist involves simple consultations with children or adults, then a psychiatrist has more difficult task. It is very difficult to make a correct diagnosis for mental disorders. As a rule, long-term observation of the patient is necessary. Patients with schizophrenia, for example, do not realize this, and most often behave completely adequately.

Today it is the case that we either have a deadline currently or, unfortunately, we don't. If we have an appointment, we can offer it, if we don't have one, we must comply - we can name other practices, or after a while we will try again.

There is no perfect solution, but we find something better than “come in 2 years.” Why isn't this better regulated? Health insurance funds and cash register representatives say that over the years almost all of Germany, including the main Kinzig region, has been “caring” for psychological therapists or even “reconsidering”.

Psychiatrist tests help make the correct diagnosis. There are a great many of them. The patient is asked to answer either a series of questions regarding general topics or to create a personal portrait. A separate area is related to associations. Thus, a person is shown specially designed pictures that resemble spots, and is asked to explain what object can be seen in this. Association tests help identify people prone to aggression or suicide.


Medical tests

In addition to intellectual tests, a psychiatrist must examine a person’s internal state. This can be judged by the results of the following procedures:

  1. Biochemical examination. The content of one or another element in the blood can indicate various neuropsychic complications.
  2. Endocrinological examination. Hormonal imbalances can cause depression, panic, and psychosis.
  3. Immunological tests. Viruses, especially those that are sexually transmitted, are often the cause of mental disorders.
  4. Toxicological studies. These may not necessarily be drugs or pills. Brain disorders cause poisoning from industrial or household chemicals, heavy metals or hazardous waste.
  5. Electroencephalogram - drawing on paper curves of the activity of parts of the brain.
  6. Polysomnography is also an EEG, but it is applied during the deep stage of sleep. Allows you to identify many diseases that are difficult to diagnose while the patient is awake.
  7. Nuclear magnetic tomography. This is the most modern method diagnosing brain problems. Allows you to see even the smallest details that the EEG cannot capture. It can detect cancer in its earliest stages and prevent stroke.


Bottom line

So, let's summarize how a psychiatrist differs from a psychologist. The first specialist is a person with a higher medical education. He uses clinical methods to make a diagnosis and prescribe medication. A psychologist provides consultations and has nothing to do with medicine. He is a philologist, and his activities are closely related to pedagogy.