The core of my project is looking at psychology and psychiatry; how they’re similar and different, and how they relate to adolescence. Finding an article that encompasses the main ideas of my project was no easy task, most articles explained the steps to becoming a child psychologist or psychiatrist, or where to find these resources. I was eventually able to find an article on the differences between psychologists and psychiatrists. Even though this didn’t directly relate to my essential question, it did talk about one of the big topics. As someone who’s been to both psychologists and psychiatrists, this article was a bit of review but also gave me some insight into what the people that I see for my mental health had to do to get their jobs. 

Psychiatrists have to go to medical school, which is typically four years if you pass the boards to become a licensed practitioner. The reason that they must endure the four years (at least) of extra schooling is so they can prescribe medication and have a better understanding of the physical brain and how it interacts with behavior in order to create someone’s personality. Their goal when seeing a patient is to determine if what they’re going through is the result of a mental illness or a physical condition. One way that I’ve experienced this is through surveys; my old psychiatrist would give me surveys where I would rate my symptoms on a scale of 1-10 so she could see how my medication was or wasn’t working. With my current psychiatrist, I just talk about my sleep patterns, whether or not I’m eating, and how I think my medication is affecting me. 

Psychologists do not have to go to medical school, but they do need a graduate degree. When seeing a psychologist, they are more focused on the patient’s thoughts and emotional state rather than possible imbalances. 

Since my project is asking about how they intersect in terms of adolescence, seeing the differences in how both professions approach patients was quite interesting. Also, being someone who’s experienced both types of therapy made me realize that I could incorporate what I’ve gone through with various mental health professionals into my project in some way.