Referrals are always welcome, but are not required at this time.
Psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists are three distinct professionals in the field of mental health, each with different levels of education, training, and scope of practice. Here are the key differences between them:
Psychiatrist:
Education: A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (M.D. or D.O.) who has completed medical school. This typically involves four years of undergraduate education, followed by four years of medical school, and then a residency in psychiatry, which lasts a minimum of four years.
Scope of Practice: Psychiatrists are trained to diagnose and treat mental health disorders. They can prescribe medication, provide psychotherapy, and offer a combination of both. Some may also specialize in specific areas like child and adolescent psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, or addiction psychiatry.
Medical Perspective: They are trained in the biological and physiological aspects of mental health. They can order and interpret medical tests and consider physical health in their assessments and treatment plans.
Psychologist:
Education: Psychologists hold a doctoral degree (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) in psychology, which involves extensive coursework, research, and clinical training. This typically takes 5-7 years after completing a bachelor’s degree.
Scope of Practice: Psychologists focus on providing psychotherapy and psychological assessments to test for specific conditions and disorders. They are experts in human behavior, emotions, and mental processes. They use various therapeutic techniques to help individuals cope with and manage their mental health challenges.
Non-Medical Perspective: Unlike psychiatrists, psychologists do not prescribe medication. They primarily use talk therapy, behavioral interventions, and, when necessary, psychological testing in their practice.
Psychotherapist:
Education: Psychotherapists hold a master’s degree in professional counseling, marriage & family therapy, or social work. They may also have various certifications in specific therapeutic treatment modalities.
Scope of Practice: Psychotherapists specialize in providing talk therapy to individuals, couples, or groups. They use various therapeutic techniques to address a wide range of emotional and psychological issues.
Non-Medical Perspective: Like psychologists, psychotherapists do not prescribe medication. Their focus is on providing emotional support, insight, and coping strategies.
It’s important to note that there is overlap between these roles, and professionals in each category may have additional specialized training in specific areas of mental health. Additionally, regulations and licensing requirements for these professions can vary by country and state.
There are several benefits to having an entire treatment team with the full scope of mental health services working together in one location. Here are two of the key benefits:
Coordination of care: When you are seeing providers from different systems, or within a large healthcare system, communication about your care and a coordinated effort toward your wellness can both be lacking. At Weston Psychiatric, your care team is all in one location and collaborates regularly with one another to ensure you are receiving comprehensive, quality care with all components of your treatment supporting the same wellness goals.
Easier, more time-efficient service access: Finding time can be a challenge, and managing appointments, services, and treatment bills can be a headache– especially when you or a loved one needs more than one type of treatment service. Here at Weston Psychiatric, you can access psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy all in one place, and you can work with one scheduling and billing team for any and all services you are utilizing. If you are seeing more than one of our providers, we can help tailor appointment scheduling to be time-effective for you.
Only utilizing one service? There are still significant benefits to you:
First, if it is determined that you would like or are in need of an additional service, such as a medication evaluation, a psychological test, or ongoing therapy, you can easily add that service in the same location and with a treatment team who is already familiar with you!
Second, providers benefit significantly from regular, multidisciplinary consultation, as it offers a wealth of clinical expertise on how to best help each individual client toward wellness. Independent practitioners, and group practitioners of the same professions (such as group psychotherapy practices), can be great, but imagine the benefits of seeing a provider who belongs to a team that has the expertise of all three professions– medical doctors/psychiatry, psychologists, and psychotherapists.
Choosing to directly pay for mental health services can be beneficial in a few key ways. You may wish to avoid dealing with insurance, whether it be copays or deductibles, determining service coverage, having a mental health diagnosis logged in your insurance history, or other insurance-related issues. Alternatively, you may wish to participate in services regardless of coverage, and therefore want to pay for services and then present the “superbill” we provide you (an invoice of your services, termed superbill by insurance companies) to get reimbursement from your insurance provider for the services they will cover without the hassle of calling them and trying to determine which services will and will not be covered.
We at Weston Psychiatric understand that privacy is of utmost importance to many people, especially surrounding their health and mental health care. Decreasing stigma around mental health is very important, but protecting individual’s preferences for privacy for personal reasons is equally important. Our clinic offers a more private location than larger clinics, options for billing and other communications which provide anonymity, as well as the unique option to schedule an appointment with no other patient appointments adjacent to or during yours, for a nominal added fee.
An in-training provider is a clinician that is completing hours toward their licensure under the direct supervision of an experienced and fully licensed provider who performs the same level of service, or higher.