psychiatrist or psychotherapist?

[nacras]

What is difference between psychiatrist or psychotherapist please & can they offer different services?, thanks

Psychotherapist offers talking therapy. There are many types of talking therapies but generally I would say they are more understanding of the variety of human minds and experiences.

Psychiatrist diagnoses disorders according to the medical model.

Psychiatrists do medication. Clinical Psychologists do therapy. Both can diagnose. More to it than that but that's the difference in a nutshell.

Psychiatrists dish out medication, psychotherapists dish out talking therapies. You wont tend to see psychiatrists often, but if in therapy then you would be seeing psychotherapists at least weekly.

Just to add - psychiatrists qualified first as doctors and then specialised in mental health, hence why they're able to prescribe medication. Psychotherapists can have a wider variety of professional backgrounds before doing psychotherapy training.

Also, just to slightly complicate this... some psychiatrists (not loads) are also qualified psychotherapists. I see one privately, and it's quite handy having one person who has an overview of everything that's going on for me and can look after both my meds and therapy needs.

However, if you encountered my psychiatrist wearing their NHS hat, they'd either be "Dr X, psychiatrist for XYZ mental health trust" or "Dr X, psychotherapist for ABC specialist NHS therapy service," rather than doing both roles at once.