Say what? Distinguishing Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Counselors

Whenever I meet someone new, one of the first questions that often get asked is what I do for a living. When I say that I am a clinical psychologist, a frequent follow up question is to clarify what someone in my profession actually does? Due to the fact that I am so often asked this question, I thought that explaining my answer in this blog might be quite relevant for the average Filipino.

So what is a clinical psychologist? Essentially, a clinical psychologist is a person who has at least a master’s degree in Psychology, and specialized in the area of clinical psychology. Many clinical psychologists, such as myself, actually have a PhD or a doctorate in clinical psychology. The education and training that we go through to obtain such a degree and title often includes the following: theories of personality and human development, assessment and diagnosis of psychological problems and mental illness, and various methods of counseling and psychotherapy. This training also includes research methods and techniques, and a prescribed number of supervised work seeing actual clients in a given setting.

In the Philippines, many clinical psychologists actually work in school settings, mainly teaching in universities.

One of the areas of work that distinguishes psychologists from other related professions is the fact that we are trained to develop psychological and personality tests. So, if you have ever taken an intelligence test or some personality test in school or when you were applying for a job, chances are, these tests were developed by psychologists. They are often also administered and interpreted by people trained in psychology.

So, what is a psychiatrist then? How are they different from (clinical) psychologists? Psychiatrists are primarily medical doctors who have specialized in the area specialty of psychiatry. They are trained in hospital settings, whereas clinical psychologists are primarily trained in the university setting. Like clinical psychologists, psychiatrists are adept at the assessment and diagnosis of mental illnesses. Many are also trained to do some kind of psychotherapy, or talk therapy. What psychiatrists do that clinical psychologists cannot do is to prescribe medication, and this is the clearest distinction between the two professions.

What about counselors? How are they similar or different from psychologists? The distinction between these two professions is a bit less defined, and can be quite controversial. In my humble opinion, there are really more similarities between these two professions than there are differences. Maybe one major difference is the kind of clients’ issues each of these professionals will be trained to tackle. Whereas counselors may tend to deal with more problems of living (e.g., grief and bereavement issues, career planning, etc.), clinical psychologists might be have more training in diagnosing and treating mental illness (e.g., clinical depression, anxiety disorder, etc.). I must say that I am more tentative about this distinction.

Currently, counselors are a licensed profession in the Philippines, whereas psychologists have only begun to regulate the professional practice in 2009 through the biggest professional organization in the country, the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP). There is a bill currently being read in the Philippine Congress, but there is no certainty when this will eventually pass as a law that will govern the practice of psychology in the country.