what is the difference between a psychiatrist and a physiologist?

Hi Payton,

You pose an excellent question that I hear all the time. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who goes to medical school, completes a residency and specializes in psychiatry. They are able to prescribe medications for their patients and spend most of the time with their patients on medication management. You must excel in mathematics and science to be accepted to medical school. Psychologists have a much more diversified field; we focus on psychotherapy and research. Psychologists work in just about every field imaginable: sports, industry, the environment, with children, with animals, the aged, in research and just about anything else you can imagine. Psychologist who want to do research can get a Ph.d in psychology which includes a four-year undergraduate degree in psychology, a graduate degree in psychology, and then a doctoral degree in their field of specialty psychology. All of those degrees take about nine years. To be a therapist you must get a Psy.d, which takes at least as many years, but also includes residency where you spend a great deal of time in hospitals learning to work with patients. I hope I have been helpful and I encourage you to study hard and find a career that fulfills you. I love what I do and if you have any more questions I will be happy to offer guidance.