Why you should meet a counseling psychologist before seeing a psychiatrist`
Most common people get confused between the terms ‘psychologist’ and ‘psychiatrist’. Many use the terms interchangeably; and even those who know the difference are confused regarding whom to consult for what, and when there is ambiguity then whom to consult first?
Well, in the domain of ‘mental health and emotional wellbeing’, psychologists and psychiatrists work towards the same goals but take different paths. Their paths converge, and ideally, they collaborate and cross-reference synergistically to ensure that the person (typically called ‘patient’ by psychiatrist and ‘client’ by psychologist) stays sorted and the wellbeing is restored.
Now you would ask how psychologists and psychiatrists are different! Well, before that let me share that there are mainly two types of intervention through which a person’s issues related to ‘mental health and emotional wellbeing’ are addressed. These two types of intervention are ‘chemical’ and ‘behavioral’. But why chemical? Well, because don’t forget that thinking is not just a conceptual or creative process. It is essentially an electrochemical process taking place inside an organ called ‘brain’.
You can draw an analogy of ‘software’ for mind and ‘hardware’ for brain. And just the way, whenever you face an issue in an IT device, the solution lies either in some setting in software or some configuration in hardware (or both), similarly whenever there is a problem related to ‘mental health and emotional wellbeing’, the solution lies in working on the ‘mental processes’ in our mind or underlying ‘chemical interactions’ in our brain (or both). That’s how two types of intervention are ‘chemical’ and ‘behavioral’.
Now going back to how psychologists and psychiatrists are different, the major difference between the two is that while psychiatrists can apply chemical intervention (as they are MBBS + MD doctors who can prescribe medication), psychologists apply behavioral intervention (as they hold a Master’s or a Doctorate in Psychology; with further specialization in counseling, clinical, industrial, developmental etc.) to issues relating to ‘mental health and emotional wellbeing’.
The issues that fall under psychiatrist’s domain are prominently the ones relating to extreme intrapersonal imbalance, personality disruption and mental breakdown – like hallucinations, mania, phobia, paranoia, suicidal tendencies, impulsiveness, compulsiveness and antisocial traits. On the other hand, the issues falling under psychologist’s domain are the ones relating to emotional problems and interpersonal difficulties – like emotional breakdown, adjustment issues, situational stress, relationship conflicts, trust issues and communication gaps.
And then there is a grey area where issues like anxiety and depression feature. While a psychologist can help you resolve these problems, if the symptoms are extreme or persistent, a psychiatrist’s chemical intervention becomes important.
But that takes us to an important question – who decides how intense your symptoms are, where they belong in the classification-spectrum, and which underlying problems are they hinting towards? Well, the answer is – a counseling psychologist. So, a counseling psychologist or a psychological counselor (they again are terms different in subtleties, but allow me to use them interchangeably for sake of simplicity) is the one you should meet first, as they then chart out what’s the best process-path for the specific issue relating to your ‘mental health and emotional wellbeing’.
Dr. Sandeep Atre
Counseling Psychologist (www.dratrecounsels.com) and ‘Emotional Intelligence’ Expert (www.socialigence.net), with experience of 20+ years. Author of ‘Understanding Emotions Logically’ and ‘Observing Nonverbal Behavior’.