Mental Health Professionals- Please explain

Tobi

Sat, Jan 28 2017, 11:17 pm

I'm interested in persuing a career in the Mental Health field. Which degree do you recommend and why? Thank you

amother

Azure

Sat, Jan 28 2017, 11:22 pm

Tobi wrote:

I'm interested in persuing a career in the Mental Health field. Which degree do you recommend and why? Thank you

following. Is psychology a better field than psychiatry?

cnc

Sat, Jan 28 2017, 11:31 pm

amother wrote:

following. Is psychology a better field than psychiatry?

They're two completely different fields.
Psychiatry is a specialty in the medical field. A psychiatrist is an MD.

wondergirl

Sat, Jan 28 2017, 11:31 pm

amother wrote:

following. Is psychology a better field than psychiatry?

You would need to go to medical school for psychiatry.

You can get a doctorate in psychology, either a Ph.D or a PsyD.

You can get a masters level degree in social work, mental health counseling, marriage and family therapy, art therapy, etc.

Do you have any specific questions about any of these degrees or are you looking for general information?

Last edited by wondergirl on Sat, Jan 28 2017, 11:35 pm; edited 1 time in total

DVOM

Sat, Jan 28 2017, 11:32 pm

Psychiatry is very different than Psychology. A psychiatrist is an MD, who went through medical school, and then specialized in psychiatry. Psychiatrists might do research, testing, teach at the graduate or doctoral level, and prescribe medication. They also could provide counseling, but from my experience not many psychiatrists are doing typical talk therapy. A psychologist has a phd or psyd, (depending on whether or not they wrote a dissertation and the sort of schooling they did, but its very similar). A psychologist would get a BA, a masters degree, and then a doctoral degree. Psychologists can't prescribe medication, but often do testing, research, and teach, and often provide counseling. A social worker or mental health counselor usually has a masters degree, and may or may not have several years of post graduate intensive supervision in counseling. They often provide counseling or case management. Then there are life coaches, no idea what type of training they receive, but I think compared to the other mental health fields their training is pretty minimal.

amother

Denim

Sat, Jan 28 2017, 11:36 pm

Another option is psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner. They can prescribe medication and do counseling, and the training is much shorter than for an MD. However, in practice most of them are doing med management rather than counseling.

wondergirl

Sat, Jan 28 2017, 11:49 pm

DVOM wrote:

You do not necessarily need a masters degree to get into a doctorate program. It is very common for students to enter a PsyD program straight from undergraduate. It is a little harder to get into a PhD program straight from college as it is more research oriented so POI's usually expect their applicants to have several years of research before they accept anyone to their lab. I have heard of people getting into PhD programs directly from undergraduate but they usually did research all through college so they already have years of experience required. Of course, some PhD programs require applicants to have a Masters degree and there is no way around it so many people get their masters in a general psychology program or a research based masters program that would enable them to get the research experience required for the phd program.

If you want to apply to doctorate programs you will need to take the GRE so you need to take that into consideration as well (although I've heard of some programs that are no longer requiring it but that is very rare). Some masters level programs do require the GRE as well so you would need to do research and see if the program you want to apply to requires it. Finally, some programs do have prerequisites that you would want to complete before applying to the program so you would need to check with each particular program to see what their prerequisites are so you can take it as an undergraduate student.

The Grad Cafe is a good site to ask questions and get more insight on different graduate programs, their requirements, etc-- http://forum.thegradcafe.com/

agreer

Sun, Jan 29 2017, 12:35 am

I think you get the most "bang for your buck" going the social work route.

The licensing process to get an LCSW is much easier than MFT, LPCC or PsyD, and you can do so much with it once finished - counseling, private practice, agencies, etc... You can really work anywhere, with any population.

It's one of the most flexible and portable degrees, takes less time than PsyD, and has many options for career growth.

However, you REALLY have to love what you do... so don't do it if you don't love it.

amother

Ivory

Sun, Jan 29 2017, 4:42 am

You can do what I do- I'm a registered nurse but work in the mental health field. I don't prescribe meds but I do med management/ teaching, as well as CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy). I work in the home care setting and a lot of my patients have been released from psych units and need help adjusting in the community. I help set them up with various community resources, programs, adult day care centers, and other services.

Brown

Sun, Jan 29 2017, 10:10 am

I'm also inerested in the different options for an MA in Israel. Type of work and difficulty studying while running a family. After a BA in psychology some possibilities are - dif. types of psychology - clinical, educational, social etc. or social work, therapy (art, drama, play), criminology.

amother

Khaki

Sun, Jan 29 2017, 10:19 am

amother Ivory. Out of curiosity - did you expect to do work like that when you went to school for nursing?

amother

Ivory

Sun, Jan 29 2017, 10:19 pm

Amother khaki- not at all. I actually ended up with the job by chance only because I was working in the company per diem and then they offered me a full time position with their mental health clientele. So I took it and have been doing it the last 3 1/2 years. Can't say I will be doing it forever but so far so good.

amother

Khaki

Sun, Jan 29 2017, 10:41 pm

thanks for getting back to me! I thought it was an unusual career goal for an RN. Very admirable work.