Psychologist or psychotherapist?

In this article, I want to draw a distinction between specialties that some patients confuse, and not knowing their distinctive features, mistakenly turn to the wrong specialist, which can lead to a delay in solving a particular problem. The specialties "psychologist" and "psychotherapist" may seem the same to someone, but this is not the case and their differences are significant.

The problems which are dealt with by practical psychologists:

- psychological counseling on marriage and family problems,
- psychological counseling on psychological health,
- psychological advice on management issues,
- psychologists are part of advisory units engaged in national and sectoral efficiency in industry,
- are engaged in the issues of advanced training of managers, improving the efficiency of personnel management, finance, marketing and marketing of products,
psychologists are part of departments that provide internal management counseling in large private and public organizations, including organizational, methodological and other services for the government. The greatest development of psychological services was received in the Armed Forces, industry and education.
- medical psychologists are engaged in the psychological testing of patients with neuroses and mental disorders, their work helps psychologists and psychotherapists to establish a medical diagnosis, but they themselves have no right to establish a diagnosis.

The main goals of practical psychologists are:

psychological study of an object or subject, including its research, explanation, description and prediction of development, as well as psychological management of this object (person, group), as well as psychological management - impact on the object (subject) carried out by qualified specialists using methods 
and means of practical psychology in order to change its psychological characteristics.

In a short form, you can point to the main areas of activity of psychologists:

- a system of moral and psychological support for the activities of law enforcement agencies;
- the system of education and preschool education (kindergartens, schools, gymnasiums, universities);
- clinical and other medical institutions;
- economic sphere (social development services, personnel services of organizations and enterprises, etc.);
- psychological assistance centers, family and marriage services, etc.

Of particular interest is the work of a medical (clinical) psychologist in the structures of medical institutions. Clinical psychologists in medical institutions study the causes of various deviations in the behavior of people, psychosomatic disorders and diseases, intellectual and emotional defects and discomfort, individual and social dysfunctions and conduct psychocorrection and rehabilitation work with them, 
(educator, psychiatrist, social worker) various developmental and maintenance programs.

The problems that psychotherapists deal with?

Before let's decide - what is psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is a system of therapeutic impact on the psyche, and through the psyche - on the entire body and behavior of the patient.

In a narrow sense, psychotherapy is a method of treatment, and in a broader one, which includes the organization of work and life, the prevention of psychotherapistic factors, etc. In this case, psychotherapy is closely related to such concepts as psychohygiene and psychoprophylaxis.

Psychotherapy can be used either alone or in combination with other treatments.

Psychotherapy is carried out with direct contact of the doctor with the patient, but can also indirectly (at the same time, the effect of psychotherapeutic influence is reduced): with the help of sound recording, radio, phone, television, Skype, cinema, through printed word, music, paintings...

Main methods of psychotherapy

1. suggestive psychotherapy (suggestion in a state of wakefulness, natural sleep, hypnosis, emotional-stress psychotherapy, drug psychotherapy);
2. self-hypnosis (autogenic training, Kue method, Jacobson method);
3. rational psychotherapy;
4. group psychotherapy;
5. game psychotherapy;
6. family psychotherapy;
7. conditional reflex psychotherapy;
8. psychoanalysis;
9. transactional analysis;
10. gestalt therapy, etc.

Psychotherapy came out of psychiatry and neuropathology, in the bowels of which she was born. Now it is widely used in narcology, therapy, especially in the so-called psychosomatic diseases, in obstetrics, dermatology, pediatrics, dentistry, surgery, etc.

Psychotherapy began to be used in other areas (readjustment, social and psychological assistance rooms, family relations rooms). Quite widely used now are separate methods of psychotherapy (emotional and psychological unloading, psychoregulation, autogenic training) in sports, in production, in the training of astronauts and members of expeditions. Many methods of mental impact have long been used by ministers of religion, in politics and economics (advertising), etc.

Psychotherapy stands at the intersection of many sciences - medicine, physiology, philosophy, linguistics, sociology, and is clearly formed into a special field of knowledge, where practical skills and their use for therapeutic purposes are undoubtedly ahead of fundamental research on their justification.

Requirements to  a psychotherapist.

A psychotherapist must have certain properties. Such properties include empathy, cordiality, warmth and kindness, attention, the ability to understand the patient.

One person's psychotherapeutic influence on another is considered an art. We can talk about congenital psychotherapeutic talent.

The main task of the psychotherapist is to achieve the mental and physical recovery of his patient, as well as to form psychological resistance to stress.

The main task of the psychologist is to help the patient in establishing harmonious relations with people close to him and in the workgroup, to help adapt in the social environment, to better understand his own psychological state.

Knowing the tasks and goals that a psychologist and a psychotherapist pursue in their work, you can clearly imagine which of them
you should contact  to solve certain problems.

From my medical experience, I can say that often psychologists begin to work with patients with neurosis or mental disabilities, which not only cannot give positive results, but also leads to a delay in the patient's appeal to a psychotherapist and significantly complicates further treatment.