What's a psychotherapist?

Question

Can anyone tell me the difference between a therapist and a psychotherapist? Does one prescribe medicine and one can't? curious to know the difference between councelers,therapists and psychotherapists? Thx!

Answer 1

A Counselor needs four years of college. A Therapists needs 4-6 years. A Psychotherapists needs a Doctorate degree. The first two cannot diagnose you but can give you their impression of what they "think" it may be. A Psychotherapist can diagnose but can't give medicene. A Psychiatrist can give meds.

Answer 2

States choose whether to license or not and they may label in different ways.

Basically there are college degrees that one can get to practice in the mental health field. They are psychiatrist (MD can prescribe), psychologist (PhD), social worker (usually masters degree), psych nurse (4 year or masters), and perhaps counseling (4 years or masters).

Therapist and psychotherapist are used interchangeably (as far as I know). Most of the degrees above can be used in various settings. The first two degrees may be used to do research, the social worker could work on child neglect cases, the psych nurse may run a psych ward. So, when a person gets a degree in one of these fields and they want to practice therapy, they take the clinical courses. Then they can label themselves by their degree and also add on psychotherapist.

Additionally there are psychotherapy training institutes which provide post-graduate training. So someone can call themselves a psychotherapist after getting a certificate from one of these institutes even though their college degree is in something unrelated.

Hope this complex situation is a bit more clear.

Answer 3

Psychiatrists are the only ones in that field that can actually prescribe medication. Therapists are generally psychologist and lack the M.D. training and education. Psychotherapy is a specific type of therapist of several other types of mental health therapist.

Answer 4

Psychotherapy is a range of techniques which use only dialog and communication and which are designed to improve the mental health of a patient/client/mental health consumer, or to improve group relationships (such as in a family). Most forms of psychotherapy use only spoken conversation, though some also use various other forms of communication such as the written word, art work or touch. Commonly psychotherapy involves a therapist and client(s) — and in family therapy several family members or even other members from their social network — who discuss their issues in an effort to discover underlying problems and to find constructive solutions.

Therapy may address specific forms of diagnosable mental illness, or everyday problems in relationships or meeting personal goals. Treatment of everyday problems is more often referred to as counseling (a distinction originally adopted by Carl Rogers) but the term is sometimes used interchangably with "psychotherapy".

Psychotherapeutic interventions are often designed to treat the client in the medical model, although not all psychotherapeutic approaches follow the model of "illness/cure". Some practitioners, such as humanistic schools, see themselves in an educational or helper role. Because sensitive topics are often discussed during psychotherapy, therapists are expected, and usually legally bound, to respect client confidentiality.

Answer 5

a psycho therapist is someone who gives you a nice, long, sensuous massage - just before they chop you into hamburger with a chinese cleaver...