Do I want to be a psychiatrist or psychologist?

Question

I want to pursue in the career of (i think) psychiatrist...but my idea of psychiatrist is actually psychologist? This is where you come in. Here are esome examples from movies/tv that have what I want to be. If u've ever seen "secret life of an amercan teenager" the guy rick always talks to about his childhood & how he was sexually abused by his father. "prime" with gweneth paltroe how she goes to the old lady to talk about her life. "freaky friday" lindsay lohan's characters mother who's getting married and wrote the book.

Answer 1

The critical question you need to answer is whether you want to go to medical school PRIOR specializing in mental health. A psychiatrist is a medical doctor first, then specializes in diseases of the mind, while a psychologist (clinical or counselling) usually has a Ph.D. in either clinical or counselling psychology. About the only functional difference in what they end up doing is that since a psychiatrist is a medical doctor, s/he can prescribe medications while a psychologist cannot.  

Answer 2

My cousin wants to be a psychologist. If you're in high school, see if they have Psychology classes. My cousin took AP Psychology and she loved it. She's going to be a senior this year in high school.

Answer 3

basically, they both do the same job, except a psychiatrist can prescribe meds. I was debating whether which one I should be, until I decided I didn't want to have to memorize all the meds. :P

Answer 4

being a psychiatrist or phychologist is nothing like what you seen in the movies, to be a psychiatrict you have to go to medical school to get a regular MD first then you have to do to school for psychiatrict school, the residency is 8 years, then finally you can be a psychiatrict if you pass all the bar exams, psychologist usually have masters or PHD but you cant prescribe any medication, you are a shrink and you just to patients,thats it.