What’s the Difference between a Psychologist and a Psychiatrist?
Here’s one question I’m asked all the time: What’s the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist? Hopefully this article helps to explain our unique roles in mental health care.
Psychiatrists
A psychiatrist is a medical doctor or “MD.” They go to medical school and learn everything there is to know about the body and physical health. Later in their training, doctors choose certain areas to specialize in, like surgery, family medicine, or dermatology.
Psychiatrists specialize in treating mental health from a medical perspective.
In Canada, psychiatrists generally work in roles where they’re diagnosing mental health concerns and prescribing medications to address them. They also use their medical knowledge to treat any physical health issues that impact mental health. For example, hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid, can resemble (or contribute to) the low energy and fatigue often linked with depression.
Some psychiatrists do counselling or talk therapy, which I’ll talk more about below. But their main role involves overseeing medications for mental health concerns.
In Saskatchewan, psychiatrists are supervised by the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons. This organization decides what education and training medical doctors must have to work with patients in the province.
Psychiatrists work in various settings, but most often practice in healthcare facilities and medical clinics. A physician’s referral is needed to meet with a psychiatrist.
Psychologists
Psychologists follow a different training path. We typically start with a Bachelor's degree majoring in psychology. We then go on to graduate studies, finishing at minimum a Master’s degree in psychology or counselling. Our training involves getting real-world experience with clients under the supervision of an experienced professional.
Some psychologists then complete a PhD or doctorate degree. That’s why we use the title “Dr.”
Like psychiatrists, psychologists may be involved in diagnosing mental health concerns. But, in Canada, we don’t prescribe medications. Instead, we focus on helping people improve their mental health through counselling or talk therapy.
We're trained in a variety of counselling theories and approaches, which focus on different aspects of human experience. Counselling can help people achieve goals like improving their self-esteem, processing difficult past experiences, trying out new behaviours, changing how they relate to others, or challenging the negative stories they’ve come to believe about themselves. Counselling can be done with individuals, couples, families, or groups.
Some psychologists specialize in assessment and testing. For example, they can take people through a range of tests to evaluate for any learning difficulties.
Psychologists in the province are licensed through the Saskatchewan College of Psychologists. We can hold one of two titles: Registered Psychologist (for those with Master’s degrees) or Registered Doctoral Psychologist (for those with doctorate degrees).
Psychologists also practice in various settings, including healthcare facilities, community clinics, non-profit agencies, schools, and private practices. A physician’s referral is not needed to meet with a psychologist in your community.
Working Together
Given our unique roles, a person could work with both a psychiatrist and psychologist at the same time. Some people see a psychiatrist once a month or every few months to oversee their medications, while working with a psychologist on a weekly or biweekly basis for counselling.
Both professions are focused on helping people improve their well-being, but coming at it from different angles and with some unique skills.
If you’d like to learn more about working with a psychologist, you’re welcome to book a free 20-minute phone call with me. You can also check out my Services page for more info.
About Marnie Rogers-de Jong
I’m a Registered Doctoral Psychologist based out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I have a PhD in Counselling Psychology from the University of Calgary. I offer in-person counselling in Saskatoon as well as video therapy across the province.