The three main differences between psychiatrists and psychologists are:

1. Psychiatrists are medical doctors, psychologists are not.
2. Psychiatrists diagnose illness, manage treatment and provide a range of therapies for complex and serious mental illness. Psychologists focus on providing psychotherapy (talk therapy) to help patients.
3. Psychiatrists can prescribe medication, psychologists can’t.

Both psychiatrists and psychologists understand how the brain works, our emotions, feelings and thoughts. Both can treat mental illness with psychological treatments (talking therapies). However, psychiatrists attend medical college and become medical doctors before doing specialist training in mental health. Because they are doctors, psychiatrists understand the links between mental and physical problems.

Training

Psychiatrists are medical doctors with at least 9 years of training – usually more. They first study M.B.B.S for 6 years and then complete at least 3 years training (M.D) in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.

Clinical Psychologists have at least 6-7 years of university training and supervised experience. They may also hold a Masters or Doctorate level qualification in psychology. If they have a Doctorate (PhD) a psychologist can call themselves ‘Dr’, but they are not medical doctors.

Psychiatrists can provide a wide range of treatments, according to the particular problem and what will work best. These include:

• medication
• general medical care, including checking your physical health and the effects of medication
• psychological treatments
• brain stimulation therapies such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Psychologists focus on providing psychological treatments.

In the context of child and adolescent mental health concerns, it helps to check if your care provider has a specific expertise in child and adolescent psychiatry.