Psychologist vs. Psychiatrist
Psychologists and psychiatrists are the two main professionals that people refer to, whenever they want to address mental issues. The only problem is that they do not know which professional to address. The reason being, there are a lot of misconceptions due to lack of understanding of these two professions.
Being a psychologist and being a psychiatrist is not the same.
In order to become a psychologist, you need a bachelor’s degree with basics in fundamental psychology. As most of bachelor’s degrees it can take up to 5 years. Next step will be earning master’s degree, which will take up to 2-3 years of schooling. After completing previous step you have to choose a specialty for your doctorate in psychology. …show more content…
The first thing a student with a dream of becoming psychiatrist needs to do is get bachelor’s degree in any field that provides good building block in pre-medical classes such as biology, chemistry, genetics and physics. It is very important that students are very well educated in these particular fields, because they are going to take MCAT exam. MCAT stands for Medical College Admission Test and is used to determine eligibility of a student for medical school. After passing this test, students go through 4 years of medical school which trains them in all areas of medicine. These 4 years are followed by another set of 4 years in psychiatric residency. During these years students are trained in hospitals and clinics in order to get the experience of working directly with patients. By completion of this exam, student must pass exam issued by American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and obtain certificate. In some cases fellowship training is required in order to get a certificate. It is a program that provides more in depth training in fields such as adolescent psychiatry and addiction. Since psychiatrist hold a medical degree, they are allowed to prescribe drugs to their patients. Their responsibilities include development of treatment plans that include psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and hospitalization. Estimated annual wage for a psychiatrist is $193,680
Psychologists and psychiatrists are the two main professionals that people refer to, whenever they want to address mental issues. The only problem is that they do not know which professional to address. The reason being, there are a lot of misconceptions due to lack of understanding of these two professions.
Being a psychologist and being a psychiatrist is not the same.
In order to become a psychologist, you need a bachelor’s degree with basics in fundamental psychology. As most of bachelor’s degrees it can take up to 5 years. Next step will be earning master’s degree, which will take up to 2-3 years of schooling. After completing previous step you have to choose a specialty for your doctorate in psychology. …show more content…
The first thing a student with a dream of becoming psychiatrist needs to do is get bachelor’s degree in any field that provides good building block in pre-medical classes such as biology, chemistry, genetics and physics. It is very important that students are very well educated in these particular fields, because they are going to take MCAT exam. MCAT stands for Medical College Admission Test and is used to determine eligibility of a student for medical school. After passing this test, students go through 4 years of medical school which trains them in all areas of medicine. These 4 years are followed by another set of 4 years in psychiatric residency. During these years students are trained in hospitals and clinics in order to get the experience of working directly with patients. By completion of this exam, student must pass exam issued by American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and obtain certificate. In some cases fellowship training is required in order to get a certificate. It is a program that provides more in depth training in fields such as adolescent psychiatry and addiction. Since psychiatrist hold a medical degree, they are allowed to prescribe drugs to their patients. Their responsibilities include development of treatment plans that include psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and hospitalization. Estimated annual wage for a psychiatrist is $193,680