A Quick Overview: Basics About Psychology/Psychologists

I'm surprised at the amount of people who don't know what psychology is, or anything basic about it, so to kick off my "Quick Overview" series I'm going to talk a bit about psychology, including people, places, and things.

First off, psychologists are not the super-intelligent beings who can track a criminal's every move as depicted in the movies or on television. Psychologists also don't all have gray facial hair and ask, "Talk about your mother." Usually, psychologists use their knowledge for therapy, and sometimes research. A majority of the field is dedicated to mental health illnesses. 

In basic terms, psychology is the study of the human mind and its behavior.

Discussions on psychology date back to Greek philosophers, although when most people think psychologist, they tend to think of Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung.

I would like to take a moment to discuss the difference between psychology and psychiatry, because I hear people using these terms as if they were synonyms! 

The biggest difference, and unarguably the most important, is where prescription medication is involved. Psychologists can assess and diagnose mental disorders, but they cannot prescribe anything to the patient. After diagnosing the patient, if medication is thought to be needed, the psychologist then refers the patient to a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists can do pretty much everything psychologists can do, but they can also prescribe medication. While psychiatrists can make more money and participate in studies about meds, there is a huge downfall. School. 

Psychiatrists have to first earn an undergraduate degree before they can attend med school and get an M.D. After that, they must then complete at least four years of residency training in mental health. Some may even receive additional training in a specific area of interest such as child, adolescent, addictions, etc.

I wanted to keep this short and sweet, although I think it's a bit too short. However, I will talk in-depth when I describe other things, so anything that isn't here will almost certainly be discussed at a later date.

Up next in my Quick Overview series: I think I'm going to talk about some chemicals in the brain that are often spoken of in different mental illnesses. Parts of the brain might be involved. I don't know. I'm winging this as I go along.

Also, for my first personal post sometime soon, I'm probably going to talk about what the illnesses feel like and not focus so much on my past. I want the feeling, not the trigger.

Tschüss!