A clinical psychologist can be termed as an individual equipped with highly specialized skills and training, which helps them diagnose as well as psychologically treat people suffering from mental, behavioral, emotional illness as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Instead of prescribing medications to individuals suffering from mental illness, clinical psychologist employ the use of psychological techniques to treatment. Such techniques include, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and at times psychoanalytic therapy depending on whether or not they are in practice (Carver & Scheier, 1982) . A psychiatrist on the other hand is a physician who has specialized in psychiatry. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that is fully devoted to assisting in diagnosing, preventing, studying as well as providing treatment for individuals suffering mental disorders. They are medical doctors and therefore, they must evaluate their patients in order to ascertain whether or not their symptoms are due to physical or mental issues or whether they are purely psychiatric (Ludwig, 1975 ) . Unlike a psychologist, psychiatrist prescribes medicine to their patients. In some other cases, they may use psychotherapy.
There are a number of reasons that may warrant a visit to a psychologist. For instance, such reasons may include, extremely intense, strained social interactions, substance abuse in order to cope, poor job performances, unexplained headaches and at times stomach-aches. These are but a few of the symptoms that likely to suggest that an individual needs to see a psychiatrist. Sometimes one may feel overwhelmed by everything, from school work to basic domestic chores. When an individual starts to withdraw him/herself from people or the society at large, its shows without doubt that he/she is fighting a psychological battle. Such people tend to lose interest in everything. Sometimes they don’t even want to get out of bed in the morning, and for some reason they feel unworthy of everything. If I had a relative who was portraying such symptoms, I would quickly encourage him/her to see a psychologist.
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Clinical psychology has four different approaches which include:
Psychodynamic Approach
This approach solely focuses on the effect that childhood development has on present psychological conditions, transference as well as defense mechanisms. It also takes a look at unconsciousness and its role pertaining to current psychological states.
Humanistic Approach
This theory implies that each individual has a built-in mechanism which helps them overcome past psychological issues thus developing a stronger personality. The role of the therapist, according to humanists, is to bring forth these mechanisms by employing the use of tools such as empathetic understanding, congruence as well as unconditional positive regard.
Cognitive Behavioral Approach
This approach combines ideas which have been developed by rational emotive behavioral therapists and also by cognitive therapists. It basically implies that in order to fathom an individual’s psychological issues, it is paramount to understand how their feelings, reasoning as well as actions relate.
Family Approach
This approach identifies family relations to be the most important factors in terms of an individual’s psychological well-being. This is because, the aim is usually to understand how the psychological issues of one person can affect the whole family. The role of the family therapist entails, improving communication among the family members, pointing out negative attributes as well as assist in establishing healthier family roles.
In conclusion, I believe that the most effective approach is the family approach. This is because home is where everything begins. If an individual comes from a family where nothing seems to work, then automatically he or she develops an attitude towards everything else. For instance, an individual who comes from a family where people don’t talk to each other much, tends to grow up becoming less attached to people. Such individuals tend to spend most of their time alone away from people. As a result they create a mental block, keeping people out of their inner circle, afraid of getting attached. The family approach is the most effective as it tends to uproot such psychological problems before they even have a chance to grow.
References
Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. (1982). Control theory: A useful conceptual framework for personality–social, clinical, and health psychology. Psychological bulletin , 92 (1), 111.
Ludwig, A. (1975). The Psychiatrist as A Pshysician. JAMA , 234(6), 603-604.
