About Psychiatrist Speciality

Psychiatrists are MBBS MD doctors who are the team leaders for mental health, in other words they are doctors trained in mental health domain. They analyze, diagnose and treat mental health disorders. A psychiatrist should not be confused with a psychologist, because both these professionals have altogether different educational requirements and set of duties to perform. A psychologist is usually MPhil or PHD in Psychology and helps in the treatment of mental health disorders by counselling/psychotherapy or talk therapy and cannot prescribe any type of medication or suggest investigations. A psychiatrist however can prescribe medications as well as give psychotherapy or counselling as required. He/she designs or plans the required treatment of the patient by involving other health professionals like physicians, social workers, psychologists, etc.

A psychiatrist treats patients with various mental health disorders, which can be a minor problem like anxiety or stress to very serious disorders like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. As mental health problems are Bio-Psycho-Social in nature, being from medical background a psychiatrist is the only member of the mental health care team who can diagnose and plan the treatment by looking at all three angles.