Trivia : Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
There are quite significant differences between psychology, psychiatry and psychotherapy roles and they tend to deal with different types of problems, although there is considerable overlap in their work.
What is psychology?
Psychology is the study of people: how they think, how they act, react and interact. Psychology is concerned with all aspects of behaviour and the thoughts, feelings and motivation underlying such behaviour.
Psychologists deal in the way the mind works and can specialise in various areas such as -- mental health work and educational and occupational psychology.
It is useful to remember that psychologists are not usually medically qualified and only a small proportion of people studying psychology will go on to work with patients.
What is psychiatry?
Psychiatry is the study of mental disorders and their diagnosis, management and prevention. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who have qualified in psychiatry. They often combine a broad general caseload alongside an area of special expertise and research.
What is psychotherapy?
Psychotherapy is conducted in several different ways, for example -- individual, group, couple and family psychotherapy. They are all ways of helping people to overcome stress, emotional problems, relationship problems or troublesome habits.
Consultant psychiatrists in psychotherapy are medical doctors who have qualified in psychiatry and then undertaken a three or four-year specialist training in psychotherapy. Their role is in the psychotherapeutic treatment of patients with psychiatric illnesses
