A psychiatrist or a psychotherapist? How to understand who to sign up to?

The question has been asked here many times.
A psychologist is an ordinary person who has knowledge in the field of psychology (or considers himself to have knowledge :)), you can discuss something with him, when there are small problems or questions, he can advise you something.
Psychotherapist - a doctor with medical education. It is able to help in more severe cases: prolonged depression, various crises, suicidal thoughts, etc. Can own one or more techniques (gestalt, body-oriented therapy, psychoanalysis, transactional analysis, psychodrama, etc.). In some cases, he can prescribe pharmaceuticals, but if he sees a more severe case, he must refer to a psychiatrist. Finding a good therapist who is right for you is difficult. It happens that a psychotherapist tries to help a patient with one of the methods known to him, which is not right for you.
Psychiatrist is a doctor, a specialist in mental diseases and conditions when psychotherapy is impossible. Treats with medication.

Psychiatrist is a certified physician in psychiatry. A psychiatrist can advise and treat mentally healthy and mentally ill people, prescribe medications, examine people and determine the degree of their mental health and legal capacity. But he cannot talk to a person without his written consent and is obliged to strictly document his observations and encrypt the diagnosis. He can forcibly hospitalize a person if he considers him dangerous to others or to this person himself. Can observe and treat people in a hospital setting. It is he who can officially determine the diagnosis of a person.

A psychiatrist should be consulted in cases of unusual prolonged (more than one month) increase or decrease in mood, suicidal attempts, paranoid ideas, delusions and hallucinations, various phobias, prolonged insomnia, severe anxiety and other cases. Psychiatrists also treat epilepsy and post-traumatic psychiatric disorders.

Often, various specialists refer patients to a psychiatrist for consultation. This is not to be feared. This only means that a specialist of another profile (for example, a therapist or surgeon) wants to learn more about the psychological characteristics of the patient. By itself, going to a psychiatrist does not mean automatic registration. In order to make a psychiatric diagnosis, it is not enough just to see a psychiatrist. We still need very serious reasons.

There are psychiatrists-narcologists who advise and treat drug addicted people. Other specialists are not allowed to do this. The psychiatrist knows a little about psychology and neurology.

Psychotherapist is a doctor who has worked as a psychiatrist for 3 years, and then underwent retraining and became a psychotherapist. Only in this case, a specialist can officially be called a psychotherapist and engage in psychotherapy. It is very important! Neither a psychiatrist nor a psychologist has the right to engage in psychotherapy, but a psychotherapist can. He has a broad understanding of the human psyche and can treat patients with both medication and non-medication. Can provide long-term or short-term, individual or group psychotherapy. There are also many different therapies (art therapy, dance therapy, gestalt, hypnosis, music therapy, etc.) and different psychotherapists specialize in different therapies.

The psychotherapist has the broadest powers, since he can advise on all cases and treat any patients and prescribe any medications.

Taken from here:

03 .ru