A friend tells you to go to a psychiatrist. Your sister suggests that you see a psychologist. A co-worker mentions that she went to a psychoanalyst. Fortunately, you've stumbled across this helpful webpage. Read on to know the differences The Psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who deals with mentally ill patients.
Psychiatrists are MDs, so they can prescribe medication.
As a result, they usually deal with clinical issues such as schizophrenia and manic-depression whose treatments tend to require medication. The Psychologist Psychologists, unlike psychiatrists, are not MDs, and they tend to deal more with emotional issues than with clinical issues. A person with schizophrenia would visit a psychiatrist because they would need medication to correct the chemical imbalance in their brain. The Psychoanalyst Psychoanalysts follow Freud's theories that painful childhood memories contained in the subconscious are the cause of mental illness. Psychoanalysts are like psychologists in that they usually deal with emotional issues and do not prescribe medication.