Reddit is most known for holding AMAs, but I'd like to open it up here on OOTify. I'm a psychiatrist who's trained in multiple types of therapy, uses medication. Post ANY question you'd like below, and I'll answer below or in a follow-up post. I'll start things off below with a couple of frequently asked questions I've gotten. 1. What's the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist or a therapist? A. A psychiatrist is a physician first. They go to medical school and then do a residency. Just as a surgeon goes to medical school then does a residency to specialize in surgery, a psychiatrist goes to medical school then does specialty training in the brain and mental health. They prescribe medications for problems and can do therapy. A psychologist does a Ph.D. (or Psy.D), training only in mental health and focusing more in therapy and research/statistics. A therapist is anyone that is licensed to do therapy, which can be someone with a Masters (MFT, MSW, LPCC) or any of the above who can do therapy too. 2. Does a psychiatrist even do therapy? It varies. Originally most therapy was done by psychiatrists, but slowly they started doing more and more medication prescribing and less therapy. For some time, new psychiatrists weren't trained at all in therapy. There are still some psychiatrists that do therapy (and meds), but they're not super common. I trained in seven kinds of therapy, and train psychiatry residents to be better therapists.
